Hell Fire
by Dovahkiir2015
Summary: Starts in season 2. Barry is still dealing with the breaches and Zoom, a bit unsure of what to do with stuff, doubting himself a bit, all that kind of thing. Hellen Finch is nineteen, doing a music degree, and her dad is the owner of Finch Labs. As it is, she struggles to get along with others. And then Barry and Hellen meet each other, not in great circumstances.
1. Chapter 1

"You _can't_ help me! Don't you see that? I'm a monster, and there is no helping a monster. No matter how much you want it, a leopard can't change its spots. Face it, _Flash_. There is. No. Helping me." He couldn't see her, the way she hung back in the shadows like that. She didn't want to be seen clearly, so he couldn't make out the extent of her condition, couldn't see what she was. In the gloom of the warehouse he could make out that her back wasn't normal anymore, but that was about it.

"I can't help you if I don't try. Just let me try." The Flash said, trying to calm the girl down. She just laughed.

"That is exactly why heroes have such hardships. Why they are always so... so... so hurt. Because they can't face the fact that they can't save everyone. Like you didn't save me. And you just can't let the go, can you?" He frowned. What was she talking about? When did he fail to save her? He hesitated. Usually for a speedster like him, hesitating wasn't a problem. But in this case, things didn't work out so simply. Her back opened up.

"No!" He yelled, but then the leathery sound of wings filled the room and she was gone, clinging to the roof, and then glass shattered, sprinkling to the ground with a harsh, ringing sound. He ran. It was what he was best at. But he couldn't find her once she was outside. He couldn't run through air, and in the dark night outside, there was no chance of being able to find her. Not like this.

* * *

 **A few weeks prior**

Hellen skipped down the stairs, her black hair falling in waves down her back, slightly messy from a good night's sleep. She was still in her pyjamas, pale blue ones with darker blue flowers on them. Her bare feet slapped quietly on the tiles floor of the kitchen as she snuck over to the pantry to snaffle up a couple of biscuits before breakfast. The sun had risen maybe three hours before, and considering what time dinner had been last night, Hellen was rather hungry. Curse her dad's late night meetings that meant an early dinner is necessary. She snuck into the dining room, a man's back facing towards her. She would recognise that unruly blond hair anywhere. She grinned and snuck forward, covering her dad's eyes with her hands and making him jump, which caused some of his coffee to splash out of its mug and soak the table cloth.

"Morning, Daddy." She laughed. Her dad scowled, lowering his newspaper and glaring at her.

"You gave me a heart attack!"

"Call it payback for what you did to me yesterday." Hellen retorted. Her dad paused for a moment, thinking.

"Yeah, in that case I suppose I deserved that." He lifted his paper up again, flicking it so it settled right. Hellen looked at him, sadness in her yellow-green eyes. She wished that for once her dad would talk to her at the table instead of reading some stupid bit of paper. She sighed and sat down, shoving one of the biscuits she had stolen in her mouth. Chocolate chip. Her second favourite, her favourite being cinnamon biscuits. But she wasn't about to complain. She got a couple of biscuits for pre-breakfast. So far the day couldn't get any better for her. One of the maids came in with a plate for her, a pile of pancakes with maple syrup dripping down the sides on it. In her other hand was another plate for Hellen to place them on before eating them. She knew just how Hellen liked it.

"Thank you." Hellen said quietly as the two plates were set on the table before her. She felt kind of bad about how her dad treated the staff, felt bad about having the staff here, period. It wasn't the 1800s anymore, she felt that she and her dad could look after themselves perfectly well. She looked up at the paper her dad was holding in front of his face as she helped herself to her first pancake.

"So how's work?" She asked. It was about the only thing that could get her dad talking. His job. It could get a bit annoying, but she just wanted her dad to talk to her. The way he used to. She missed the days of being a kid, five and running away from her dad who was chasing her around the apartment trying to persuade her to get dressed for school. Now that she was at college, things had changed. She was nineteen, studying music, somehow fumbling her way through it. Her dad lowered the paper, peering of his glasses at her. She looked nothing like her dad. Many times she had been asked if she had been adopted, but she always gave the same answer. No. She took after her mum. No one could have a live comparison, not anymore. Her mum and younger brother had died in an accident about five years before. Her brother, Korry, had been eleven.

"We're a bit stuck on the prototype." Her dad said.

"Prototype for what?"

"You wouldn't understand." Her dad said, returning to his paper. Hellen raised an eyebrow at him, unimpressed. Just because she was doing a music degree didn't mean she understood nothing of science.

"If it's the prototype for the engine that runs off less electricity, then try rerouting the direction the electrons have to go. You're sending them – "

"We tried that, Hellen. We'll manage."

"I'm only trying to help." Hellen muttered, shoving the first part of the pancake in her mouth. She wished she could cook, but somehow she always managed to burn everything. Her mum used to manage to get everything perfect, beautifully golden potatoes, roasts that almost melted in your mouth... you name it, she could make it. She also made the perfect soufflé.

"No offence, but I am the head of several teams of highly educated scientists. _You_ are part way through getting a music degree."

"So? I still understand science."

"Not as well as we do." Hellen threw down her fork, annoyed. This was generally the way conversations with her dad went. Her trying to start a conversation, him finishing it with insulting her intelligence. She looked away out the window at the view over the city, all the cars busy zooming around the place, the lights, the buildings... the smog. She didn't like the city too much. But it was her home. Just... too many people. She was, as she would admit freely, rather socially awkward. She sighed, flicking her hair back over her shoulders and then stood up.

"Where are you going? You haven't finished your breakfast."

"Mm not hungry." She lied. She was starved, but she wanted to get away from him. She'd had enough. She missed her mum and Korry as much as he did, but he seemed to handle it worse, seemed to just lock himself into his work, lock himself away from her. Hellen wasn't sure what she wouldn't give to have her old dad back.

* * *

"Aw, come on, Barry. You should go." Joe tapped Barry's arm in an encouraging manner, but Barry shook his head, smiling.

"I dunno. I just don't think now is the best time, what with the breaches and so on." He said, waving his hand around. He didn't feel quite ready to put himself out there. It was nice of Joe and Iris to try and find him someone who he could hang out with for things other than work and hero stuff, someone who he could be more... romantically interested in, but he didn't want it. He ducked under the police tape and looked around at the mess. It seemed like a mini tornado had crashed through the place, it was in such an unbelievable mess. Joe gave a low whistle as he looked around.

"This place is a mess." Barry nodded.

"You said it." He looked around and sighed, his bag of stuff in his hand, black latex gloves already on. They had been put on when they first arrived on the scene. He put the bag down and started sifting among the mess, trying to find something that could shed some light on what was going on. It would take a while to sort everything out. Sometimes this job really sucked, the things he had to do, the things he saw. He crouched down, peering curiously at something he had spotted. Some sort of goo, as though some kind of oversized slug had passed through. He took a sample of it and tucked it into his case. Maybe he could get Cisco or Caitlin to have a look at it if they got the time, if he didn't get the time, but his work at S.T.A.R Labs was important. He had to find a way to close the breaches, before they got worse.

"Do we know anything about the vic?" Joe was asking one of the lower officers in hushed tones.

"Tobias Michael Jones. He worked at Finch Labs."

"Finch Labs?" Barry asked, stepping forward. He had heard a couple of things about that place. It was fairly small, but the things that they researched had some rather large impacts when they were actually working. They were fairly wealthy too, somehow. At one point they were sharing research with S.T.A.R Labs, or that's what the rumours said. At that stage Barry was simply obsessed with S.T.A.R Labs and the work they did, he didn't have a base of operations there. The officer nodded.

"Yeah. That's right."

"There have been other cases to do with Finch Labs. You think it's connected?" Joe asked. Barry shrugged.

"Could be. The sites were similar to this one, considering they were trashed."

"There's something different about the body this time." Another officer said, a woman, as she walked over.

"What do you mean?"

"We found this on him." She said, handing over a sheet of paper in a plastic bag.

 _The labs are next._

Barry looked at the note. It wasn't hand written, looked almost like it could have been typed up on a type writer. He frowned. What was it about people warning the police of where they were going to hit next? Most of the time it was just them being stupid.

"We have to warn Dr. Finch." He said. Joe nodded.

"I'll get on it." He said, heading off while pulling his phone out of his pocket. The media were being dealt with currently. Perhaps Barry could get news to the public about this, telling them about the threat? It might be a good idea to keep them away from the building just in case anything did happen.

* * *

Hellen was sitting in one of the armchairs in the living room, her feet pulled up next to her. She was staring at the TV, a slight frown on her gentle features. There was a story about one of the old workers for Finch Labs having been killed. It was the third within the span of three weeks. Why was someone picking off workers at her dad's lab? Sure, he had enemies, but his work was supposed to be trying to help make the world a better place, why would someone want to slow the progress they were making? It made no sense. She couldn't help but think that there was something else going on, something bigger. Her dad would have just put it down to her being a conspiracy nutter. There were so many opportunities for aliens to be hiding in the community, within the government and the media, she was certain of it. But right now that wasn't what mattered. Something was going on, and it was related to Finch Labs, which meant her dad was (quite possibly) neck deep in shit.

"Right, I'm off. Be a good girl." Her dad walked over to her and kissed her on top of her head. She looked around slightly as he started moving away.

"Hey, Daddy, you seen this?" She asked. The footsteps paused and there was a moment of silence. Hellen could imagine her dad's big, black briefcase hanging by his side as he watched the TV screen, could imagine him shrugging before answering.

"He was a good guy, Dr. Jones. Remind me to send a card to his family."

"Your missing my point," Hellen moved her knees under herself and turned around, resting her chin on the back of the chair, "Yes, he was a good scientist, but he's the third one in a comparatively short period of time. It doesn't take a genius to notice the pattern. Sooner or later this guy is gonna kill you, Daddy. Or try to."

"We'll deal with it when that happens."

"Let me go with you to work today. I don't have any lectures, and you can try and teach me something sciencey. Or you can set me to desk duty."

"Look, Hell – "

"Please?"

"I'm already late and you're still in your pj's. "

"I can get dressed in two minutes."

"I'm sorry, kiddo. You stay here and be good for the staff."

"Dad – "

"I'm going to be late home, so don't wait up. Love you." And then the door shut, leaving Hellen staring at the wooden patterns running down it. She collapsed back around in her chair just as the person being interviewed on the News changed. It was some forensic scientist with slightly spikey brown hair and greenish eyes.

" _We don't know for sure who this guy is, or who he is going to hit next, but we have reason to believe that they're heading for Finch Labs. It's advised that you stay away from there if you can. We have no idea what is planned, or for when, but please, stay away from Finch Labs. For your own safety."_ Hellen stared at the screen in horror, then ran to her bedroom to get dressed. She needed to warn her dad. He would have to listen, he'd have to. She'd make him. Somehow. She wasn't going to lose him too.

* * *

"Well, it's certainly not something you would come across in normal circumstances." Caitlin said calmly.

"Metahuman?" Barry asked. She shrugged.

"Could be. From what I can tell it has traces of human DNA in it." Barry ran a hand down his face. Terrific. He had to deal with the breaches and now there was a new metahuman to deal with on top of that.

"Does the DNA match up with anyone's?"

"I don't know. I'll check."

"Thanks, Caitlin." She smiled and walked off. Barry sighed and ran a hand through his scruffy hair, making it scruffier. When one thing went wrong, it seemed like everything did and it was impossible to get to grips with the situation and fix everything. Sometimes he wished that things could be back to how they were. Just then his cell phone rang and he jumped to answer it.

"Hello?"

" _It's going down now, Finch Labs. It's being attacked."_ Joe's voice came through the cell phone. Barry nodded, not that his adoptive father could see it, and made his way towards his suit.

"I'm on my way." He said, hanging up. He was changed and at the scene in a matter of seconds, not even out of breath from his run. It was chaos, terrified workers running around all over the place, screaming and crying for help. There was one person who stood out more than others. He wasn't panicking, he was causing the panic. It was like he could control the winds, but that didn't explain the goo that Barry had found at Dr. Jones' apartment.

"Flash!" A girl called out from behind him. She had a cut on her head, blood trickling down her cheek. Her dark hair was tied in a couple of braids that hung over her shoulders and she was holding onto her friend, a reasonably tall guy who was as thin as a twig.

"My dad's in there, I can't... He's all I have and I know I have no reason to ask this of you, but I can't find him. He's all I have left." She said. She was terrified, but not for herself. Barry could tell she didn't care about her own safety. He nodded.

"I'll see what I can do. What does he look like?"

"He's James Finch. Blond hair."

"James Finch? You're kidding." He muttered the last part.

" _Let's stay on task here, Barry. No fan girling just now."_ Cisco's voice came through the radio and Barry nodded.

"Right." He said before sprinting off. He searched everywhere he could, but there was still no sign of Dr. Finch. He stopped and looked around. Perhaps the best plan of action was to remove the metahuman from the equation and make it safe for everyone else? He ran back to where the metahuman was still busy influencing the air, throwing objects at people, somehow making walls cave in and damaging the structural safety of the building.

"Hey!" He called out, making the guy stop what he was doing. Why did they always stop? Sometimes the 'bad guys' seemed like they had little or no brains. And yet they still packed a punch and could be quite difficult to get down. This guy looked like he wouldn't be smart enough to know how to use a spoon, let alone come up with a plan to bring down Finch Labs.

"You talkin' to me?" The tornado guy asked. He sounded about as dumb as he looked.

"Yeah. Do you mind?"

"Yeah, I do. I was told to bring down the building, so I am."

"I don't think so," Barry shook his head, spotting the girl he had been helping find her dad sneak past and enter the building, "Oh, shi –" He started to say before he felt himself being picked up and thrown against the wall. He felt the wind being knocked out of him and staggered to his feet, coughing while trying to catch his breath.

" _You OK?"_ Cisco asked.

"Yeah, I'm good."

"There's a reason they call me Wind Lance." Barry's new friend said, rather gleefully. Cisco's voice came over the radio, completely unimpressed, slightly disgusted.

" _Really? That's a horrible name! This is why we don't let the bad guys name themselves."_

" _Cisco, stay on topic." Caitlin scolded._

" _Sorry."_

"Guys!" Barry snapped. Sure, it could be really helpful to have the others chatting away in his ear, but at other times it was a bit annoying. They both apologised and Wind Lance gave Barry a funny look. Barry shook his head.

"Don't worry about it."

"OK then..." Barry zipped forward and a started running in circles around Wind Lance, who tried to watch him but ended up getting dizzy. Then a strong wind picked up in the opposite direction to the way Barry was running, it was a stronger wind than most and Barry found it harder to run, not that he couldn't manage. He moved to pick up speed and ended up getting punched in the face. How could someone so stupid pull something like that off? Wind Lance looked up and a grin spread across his face.

"Sorry to cut this short, speedy, but I got somewhere to be." He said, a small tornado forming itself around his legs and carrying him off. Barry watched him go, scowling, then looked back at the building. It was coming down.

"She's still in there, I gotta help her!" The boy who had been with Dr. Finch's daughter was struggling against a policeman, trying to get through the barrier so he could enter the building and get his friend out. Barry looked back in and without a moment's pause entered the building.


	2. Chapter 2

Dust was falling from the ceiling and entering her lungs, fire rising from who knew where. In some ways it was beautiful, but right now wasn't the time to sit and admire the flames, to admire the destruction. Hellen covered her mouth and coughed into her elbow. It was getting harder to breathe.

"Dad!" She called out, over and over again, as though she was playing Marco Polo or something like that, wishing with her entire being that he would answer. The empty hallways reminded her of a ghost town, or a ghost town in hell anyway. She struggled through, ignoring the ever rising heat, ducking under a fallen beam. Every now and again she came across and other person and would try to help them out, once or twice she would find a dead body. It brought back memories she didn't want to ever see again. She knew where her dad's lab was, so she made her way there. All the research had gone up in smoke, her dad was no where to be seen. For a moment she stood there, coughing, unable to believe what she was seeing. This had been her dad's life work, he had poured everything into it, and now it was all gone in one second. She fell to her knees, hand on the wall, trying to catch her breath as she fell into another coughing fit.

"Dad!" She managed to choke out again, her cries getting more and more faint and strangled from the smoke inhalation. Something in her dad's lab was glowing. She knew perfectly well that it could be dangerous, who knew what chemicals he could have in this place? But she headed towards it anyway, maybe because of how deluded she was, maybe she wasn't able to think straight because of the lack of oxygen, either way she headed in, pushing her way under another collapsed beam. She held her hand out and touched the crystals that were glowing, frowning. Next thing she knew excruciating pain was shooting up her legs, making her cry out in agony. She looked around at the large piece of ceiling that had fallen on her, trapping her legs. By now Hellen was terrified. The flames were climbing higher and higher up the walls, eating away at anything and everything that it could. That included her, if it reached her. She flinched away, covering her eyes as the fire reached the crystals, making them explode, felt them digging into her skin, eating into her flesh. Tears would have found their way out onto her cheeks at this point, if it weren't for the heat and how quickly they evaporated. The dry, smokey air stuck to her throat and the heat just kept climbing higher and higher.

"Come on!" Some one yelled over the sound of the fire from outside. It was suddenly cooler in that one room and a guy wearing funny looking goggles held his hand down to help her up. She shook her head.

"I can't," She stopped as another coughing fit racked her body, "My legs..." She clutched her arms, trying to protect them.

"Mick!" The guy called out and another, larger, more muscular man pushed his way forward. Hellen frowned. She recognised these people... or she thought she did. She'd heard about them on the News or in the paper or something... what were they doing here? They robbed banks and so on. Well, if she was remembering correctly and if she did recognise these two men. Chances were that she was imagining things due to smoke inhalation, and she knew that perfectly well. Mick bent down and hauled the bit of ceiling off Hellen's legs, making her cry out in pain as blood and feeling rushed back to her legs.

"Come on, help her up." The guy with the goggles said, his funny looking gun thing held in his left hand while he moved his right arm under Hellen's armpits and helped her out. Mick took the other side, his gun hanging by his side. His gun had orange in it while Goggles Guy had blue. She guessed that one was fire, the other ice, or at least the equivalents there of. She had heard about this. She looked up at Mick, thinking that if anyone could fight fire with fire it would be this guy. A moment later the Flash was stood in front of them. He looked at the two men helping Hellen, confused.

"What are you doing here?"

"Doing your job for you." Goggles retorted.

"Guys," Hellen struggled not to collapse into another coughing fit, "Now isn't the best time for this argument."

"She has a point." Mick said. Goggles sighed and glared at the Flash.

"Take her and get out of here." He said, passing Hellen over to the Flash. She looked back at him, eyes wide with fear.

"What about you?"

"Can't go out there, not that way. People would think we had something to do with all this." He indicated to the fire and destruction.

"And you didn't?"

"Not this time."

"We have to get out of here." The Flash yelled as another beam fell down not far away. Hellen nodded, rather fearfully.

"Thank you." She called as Goggles and Mick vanished into the smoke. The Flash didn't look too happy about letting them go, but he had other problems right at that moment.

"Put your arm around my shoulders." He said. Hellen did as he said and felt her legs being swept out from beneath her. She didn't understand what was happening after that, and the next moment she was outside in the fresh air, being guided over to an ambulance. She couldn't register what was going on anymore, an oxygen mask being slipped over her head and being seated on a bed in the ambulance. She hardly noticed her dad sitting next to her, his arms around her shoulder, pulling her to his chest, didn't hear the words he whispered in hushed tones. She couldn't stop thinking about what had happened, images of the car crash flashing before her eyes. She looked out the back door of the ambulance and could see her mum's body being taken away on a stretcher, could picture the men carrying her to the ambulance. Hellen hated hospitals, hated ambulances. She struggled to stand up, pushing away anyone who tried to get her to sit back down, trying to pull off the oxygen mask on her face. Her arms hurt, burning madly, and her legs were struggling to support her weight, but eventually the medics had to sedate her. The last thing she saw before the drugs took proper hold of her was the destruction of Finch Labs and a group of firemen running forward with hoses to try and put out the flames.

* * *

Barry was sitting down looking up at Joe, Caitlin and Cisco. Joe was standing his hands on his hips, thinking over what Barry had just said.

"If Snart and Rory were at Finch Labs –"

"I can't picture them having anything to do with it, and they were the ones who saved Finch's daughter. I only got her out after they handed her over to me." Barry sat back, his hands on his knees.

"Why would they have been there in the first place?" Cisco asked.

"I don't know. Does anyone know what those two do?" Barry shrugged.

"You think they got what they wanted?"

"I think we have bigger problems right now."

"Wind Lance." Caitlin nodded. Cisco took a deep, calming breath.

"Are we really calling him that? That's a dreadul name."

"At least we know who we're talking about."

"It makes me think of a video game or something like that." Cisco muttered. Barry snorted, smiling. Trust Cisco to think something like that. But he did have a point, Wind Lance was a bad name, and it did sound like it was off some kind of game.

"Do we know who he really is?" Barry asked, standing up and looking at the screens as Caitlin typed away at the computer.

"Pierce Greene. Part time body guard, petty thief when it best suited him."

"How can you be a body guard _and_ a thief?" Cisco challenged. Caitlin shrugged.

"He managed it. He only started stealing when his wife got sick."

"Any thoughts on why he was targeting Finch Labs?" Joe spoke up. Again, Caitlin shook her head.

"He has no reason to. Finch Labs tried to help his wife when she had a brain tumour a couple of years ago, provided the money for the medical care."

"Why?" Barry asked. Why would a company like Finch Labs pay for this woman's surgery? They didn't seem like that sort of company, especially after the death of Dr. Finch's wife and son. Barry hadn't even heard about his daughter, didn't know he had one. It was possibly for the best, people not knowing about her. There were rumours that the car crash that had killed Roxanne and Korir Finch wasn't entirely an accident, even if there was no proof to back that theory. Something just felt off about that case. At any rate, it was Roxanne who used to encourage her husband to do things like that for some of the workers, keep them working and let them know that they did care. They only did it when the family didn't have enough money themselves.

"Stacy Greene was one of the lead scientists, a good friend of Dr. Finch's. Good friend and colleague. Unfortunately, the surgery failed and she died a couple of weeks later."

"Maybe Greene blames Dr. Finch for his wife's death?" Joe suggested.

"Maybe." Caitlin agreed. Barry nodded.

"Have we got any idea of how we can track him? How did he become a metahuman?"

"We might be able to track him through aerial disturbances, unless he can control his powers better than that so we can't, which would be really annoying." Cisco said. Barry smiled.

"So what, he names himself _and_ we might not be able to track him? This guy really is a bad guy."

"Exactly!" Cisco clicked his fingers, pointing at Barry, "You get me, man." Barry laughed, nodding.

"Yeah, I do. I got my ass handed to me by Wind Lance."

"Yeah, you did." Barry looked at Joe, mildly confused.

"Thanks for the support?"

"Hey, I suspect lots of people would have had their ass handed to them by that guy. He has past experience with beating people, if he was a body guard."

"You just have to learn how he works, what attacks he automatically falls to." Caitlin explained. Barry nodded.

"OK, and then what?"

"You find a strategy you can use to beat him."

"Great," Barry shrugged, "How hard can that be?" He looked at Joe, "I'm going to go talk to Dr. Finch's daughter. See if she can help us any." Joe nodded.

"OK."

* * *

Hellen rubbed her eyes, trying to wake up. She looked around at the blurry world, blinking to make things slowly come into focus. She felt her heart miss a beat when she noticed she was in a hospital. She kicked off the blankets and looked at the needle jabbed into her hand, gently removing it and casting it aside.

"Hell, stop it. Stop." She looked up as Daniel made his way towards her. He was worried about her.

"I need to get out of here."

"You need to rest. You've been through a lot. The doctors say that it's amazing that your legs aren't broken, that you can still use them. And your arms..." His voice trailed off and Hellen looked down at her arms, wrapped up in bandages. She felt like she was the typical Egyptian mummy from those movies, felt like buying herself a sarcophagus just so she could make an epic entrance (even though it would be a cliché entrance). She ran her hand along the bandages, trying to remember what had happened to her inside the lab. After she escaped Daniel and rushed inside she had looked around for her dad, but... she frowned. Did she find him? Was he OK?

"Where's Dad? Daniel, where is he?"

"He went to get some coffee. It's OK. He's alright, a couple of scrapes and bruises, a broken arm, but he's alright. Now sit back down and rest."

"I can't stay in here. I can't. Not after... Not again."

"I know what you went through after your mum died, I know you struggle in places like this now, but –"

"Please, Daniel." Hellen looked so lost, so frightened, so small. Daniel felt sorry for her, but the only way she was going to improve was if she had medical help from a professional. And he wanted her to get better. He shook his head, his curly red hair flopping in his deep blue eyes.

"Not until the doctors say it's OK." Hellen swallowed and looked down at the bed she had just gotten off. At least here she wasn't going to be burnt to a crisp. Or she hoped she wasn't. She slowly sat back down on the bed, her hands shaking. She didn't really like hospitals. No. Correction. _Really_ didn't like hospitals. She frowned and started removing the bandages on her arms.

"No, what are you doing?" Daniel lunged forward and grabbed her hands, stopping her. She looked up at him.

"I want to see it, I want to see what they look like." He shook his head.

"Not yet. Wait for a bit longer."

"They're my arms."

"Please, Hellen." She frowned. He never called her Hellen, not since they met when she was seven and she lied to the teacher about what happened to the last lollipop in the jar. It was a good lollipop. She didn't understand what the big deal was about a lollipop, but she didn't want to get in trouble, so she had said (in the sweetest, most pure and not obviously lying voice she could manage) that someone in the year above her had taken it. The girl who she blamed was a bit of a trouble maker, and the teacher didn't require much convincing. Hellen glared at Daniel and pushed his hands off, flinging her legs onto the bed and staring up at the ceiling.

"Let's make one thing clear. I am not having that needle put back in me." She muttered. Daniel sighed, not replying. He just went and sat in a chair not too far away. There was a knock on the door and Hellen reached back and grabbed the remote for the bed. The only fun thing about hospitals. You can fiddle around with the bed. She pressed the button on the controller and the head end of the bed rose. In the door stood the same guy she had seen on the TV when the warning about the attack on Finch Labs was made public. She frowned.

"Hi?"

"Hi, I'm Barry Allen. I'm a forensic scientist working on the team trying to figure out who attacked Finch Labs. Mind if I...?"

"No, come on in." She flung her legs off the bed again, still frowning, and looked at Daniel. He shrugged and stood up.

"I'll be outside if you want me, Hell."

"Yep." Daniel nodded to Barry as they stepped past each other and Barry took the seat Daniel had just been in. Hellen looked at him curiously, thinking. She felt like she recognised him – and not just from the TV.

"So... what happened?" He asked, pointing at her head. She lifted her hand and fingered her forehead, finding some stitches there. She shrugged, feeling rather self conscious. She knew perfectly well she wasn't looking her best, also knew she was wearing hospital pyjamas. In front of a guy she didn't even know.

"I don't... Don't really remember." She said.

"It's OK. I just have a couple of questions, if you don't mind me asking you."

"Uh... no, I don't... think I mind."

"You OK?"

"Yeah, I'm just not too great with people." She half smiled at Barry, who leaned back in his seat.

"Well, I don't bite." He smiled. She nodded.

"So... the questions?"

"Do you remember anything strange inside the building?"

"It was Finch Labs. Everything in there is strange." She rubbed her arms, frowning slightly as she remembered the red crystal like object. What was it? She shook her head as a picture of the crystal exploding entered her mind. She felt a sharp pain in her arm and cringed, looking down at the arm that had hurt. Barry watched her.

"What was the other question?"

"Did you notice anything about the metahuman outside the building? Did you recognise him?"

"Um... no... sorry. I can hardly even remember what happened. Not sure if it was because of..." She paused, rubbing her head and thinking. Barry leaned forward. She looked up at him, head slightly to the side. She smiled, then shook her head.

"What?" Barry asked, laughing slightly.

"I'd swear I know you from somewhere. I mean, sure, I saw you on the News, but... your voice. I feel like I know it from somewhere else." Barry looked at her, smiling in a slightly confused way.

"I don't see how."

"I look at you and for some reason this one moment when I was inside the building comes to mind. Sorry, probably just my mind working in strange ways." She laughed awkwardly and looked at the floor, her fingers itching to remove the bandages on her arms while Daniel wasn't in the room with her.

"What do you remember?" Barry asked, curiosity getting the better of him. Hellen shook her head.

"It doesn't matter."

"Nah, I want to know."

"It's a little fuzzy. Something about a couple of guys helping me out and then the Flash coming along. They seemed to know each other. I think that the people helping me out were robbers of some description, so them knowing the Flash would make sense... but me remembering that... I don't get how you have anything to do with it," She looked up at Barry, "If I wanted to take the bandages off to have a look, would you stop me?"

"Go ahead. I was actually going to ask what happened to your arms."

"Um... I don't... Don't really know how to explain it. There was something in Dad's lab and it exploded and went into my arms. I couldn't move because by that stage my legs were pinned." She started unravelling the bandages on her arm, slowly and methodically. She wasn't sure if she should actually do this, but she wanted see it.

"You must have been terrified."

"I don't know. Can't remember." She stopped removing the bandage and just looked at her arm, at all the deep cuts riddling it. She covered her mouth, not wanting to believe it. Every cut – more like gash – had stitches in it and most of them met up to make a map of red scabs. She shook her head, having trouble believing it. She set about removing the bandage on her other arm, not wanting to believe that both her arms were like this. Barry stepped forward and placed a hand on her shoulder gently, making her look up at him.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" He asked. She looked away, terrified, unable to know what was happening, not knowing what she wanted. She didn't even know why she was reacting like this. It wasn't like she cared how she looked. She shook her head slowly and let go of the bandage on her arm. Barry gently took her other arm and wrapped it up in the bandage again.

"Does it hurt?" He asked.

"What does it matter? It won't change anything." She looked at Barry, wondering what his past held. Something was weighing on him, more than what weighed on most people. Everyone had lost someone, either that or was going to lose someone. But there was something else in his case.

"Hell?" Daniel entered the room just as Hellen was about to ask. She looked around at him as Barry stepped back. He frowned and walked over to her, then shook his head. She looked away, not wanting him to get all protective over her again. Ever since she lost her mum and brother, Daniel had stepped up and gotten overly protective.

"You looked at your arms, didn't you?" He asked gently. She shook her head.

"Nope. I looked at only one of my arms. He stopped me looking at the other one." She nodded towards Barry.

"Thank you." Daniel said. Hellen rolled her eyes. Why did he thank Barry? She should be the one thanking him, but she didn't want to. He was a stranger. Asking her questions about the accident.

"Where's Dad? How long does it take to get one cup of coffee?" She muttered. Daniel shrugged.

"He should be back by now."

"Somehow I doubt it was coffee he was actually getting. He probably went home to drink away his sorrows."

"Why?" Barry asked. Hellen looked at Daniel's watch, which also had the date. She sighed.

"Because of what the day is." Barry looked at Daniel in mild confusion. Daniel just shook his head.

"Have you got any more questions for me, Mr. Allen?" Hellen asked politely.

"Do have any idea who would want to hurt Dr. Finch?"

"He has too many enemies to count. But..." She paused. Did she want to say it to a complete stranger? Maybe, if it helped with the investigation.

"But?" Barry asked after a moment. Daniel looked back at Hellen.

"Do you want me to?"

"No. No, it was..." She took a breath and looked back at Barry, "Today was the day my mum and brother died in a car crash. Not sure if it helps, but it might be why they hit today. It... is still today, right?"

"Yeah, the attack was only a few hours ago." Daniel confirmed. Hellen nodded in thanks. Barry stood up and held his hand out for Hellen to shake.

"Well, thank you for your time. Someone else might be around to take a formal statement or something."

"OK." She was shutting down again. She just wanted to be alone. Well, no. She wanted her dad, but that wasn't about to happen. He was probably drunk by now and she wasn't even crossing his mind. She frowned and looked back at Barry just as he was leaving the room. She jumped off the bed and pushed past Daniel.

"Hey!" He yelped as he fell backward onto her hospital bed.

"Mr. Allen! Wait, I have one more... question..." Hellen looked out the door for Barry, but couldn't see him anywhere. She frowned. That was just weird. Why was a forensic scientist asking her questions? How the hell did he get out so fast? He should still be in the hallway, but he wasn't. Daniel moved over to her.

"You OK?"

"Mm fine."

"You really need to learn how to talk properly."

"Don't want to."

"Course you don't," He placed his hands on her shoulders and gently steered her back to her bed, "Rest. You need it after what you've been through."

"No, what I need is to get out of here. I hate hospitals." Hellen muttered. Daniel smiled.

"I know."

* * *

 **Author's note: The chapters so far have been longer than the usual length of my chapters, I don't really know if that will continue or not. Snart and Rory will possibly leave for a bit, I'll try to bring them back soon though. Snart is quite important in this. Hope you're enjoying the fanfic so far :)**


	3. Chapter 3

Barry stumbled out of his bedroom, having gotten little to no sleep. He was too busy thinking about Wind Lance and where he could be, how they could find him. He hadn't been doing anything for two weeks, and it was worrying him a bit. Why would he hit Finch Labs and then just... vanish? It just didn't add up. Had he gotten what he wanted? In which case, what had he wanted? Why wasn't he showing up again? The same applied if he didn't get what he wanted. Barry was wearing himself out thinking a out it non stop.

"You awake there, Barry?" Iris asked when he stumbled into S.T.A.R Labs not too long after waking up. He sighed, nodding.

"Yeah, just."

"Worrying about Wind Lance until you're exhausted won't help anyone, you know."

"I know, but..."

"You can't help but worry because we haven't heard anything for so long?"

"Yeah. I hate it when people do this. It puts me on edge." Barry walked over, his hands in his pockets, and looked at his suit, thinking. He remembered what the Finch girl – Hellen – had said. It almost sounded like she had worked out his secret, right up until she had started thinking it completely illogical. But what if that was just her trying to hide that she knew? He'd swear he was getting paranoid. If she knew, then he would handle it. He looked at Iris, who was leaning against the computer desk. He kicked absently at the floor.

"We know hardly anything about Wind Lance, and it has been two weeks. We should know something, should have heard something," He shrugged, "I just don't know what is going on, and I feel like there is something going on that we should know about. Something big."

"It's OK. No matter what happens, we'll stop it. You'll stop it, you always do."

"But what if I don't? I couldn't save Mum, Dad still went to jail."

"You tried. That's what matters."

"I failed. Iris... what if I fail again?"

"Then you'll just try again. There is no point in beating yourself up about it. Things happen, and sometimes you can't change that. It's what you do after that which really matters. If you fail are you going to lie down and give up, or try again?" Iris asked. Barry nodded, looking at the ground.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," He looked back at her and smiled, "Thanks, Iris." Iris smiled back. She knew what Barry needed to hear. Benefits of them growing up together.

"It's OK." She said as she stepped forward and pulled him in for a hug. It felt good. Iris gave good hugs, and considering what had happened fairly recently, Barry supposed they both needed a hug or something to that effect. He let go and pulled back as Cisco entered the room.

"I think I have a way to find Wind Lance." He said.

"How?" Barry asked.

"He travels by using tornados, right?"

"Yeah, but we don't know if he does that all the time."

"You run everywhere, so why won't this guy just use wind to get everywhere?" Cisco said. Iris and Barry shared a look. They knew perfectly well that not everyone was like Barry, occasionally misusing his powers, only occasionally and never when someone saw him. He knew perfectly well what that could end up doing.

"So what's your idea?" Iris asked, though she wasn't sure if she wanted to know. She had a feeling it might go completely over her head. That was the only risk of hanging out with a bunch of scientists, or variations there of.

"We tried looking at weather patterns to see if anything stands out, but when your only power is over the wind it's a bit harder. Tornado warnings. If he uses his powers to transport himself, then we might be able to use the warnings to pinpoint where he is."

"That's... a few ifs and maybes." Iris pointed out.

"Yeah, but it's about all we have right now," Barry pointed out, nodding at Cisco, "And it might work."

"I'll get on it." Cisco said, sitting down at the computers and starting to type away. It seemed like they were getting somewhere. It was about time. Barry looked at Iris. He hadn't actually eaten proper breakfast that morning.

"Wanna go get something to eat?" He asked. Iris thought for a moment, then nodded, smiling slightly. Even her smile was slightly sad now.

"Sure." She said, and they headed out.

"I'll call you if we find anything." Cisco called after them.

"Yeah, thanks Cisco." Barry called back before he and Iris were out of earshot.

* * *

Hellen juggled the shopping bags to try and reach her house key, which was currently in her back pocket. She had started wearing long sleeves or a jacket of some description to hide her scars from everyone else because she had gotten a few funny looks from other people, strangers who passed her on the streets. Daniel held out his hand and took the bags off her. She smiled and muttered her thanks before unlocking the door and holding it open for him.

"You weren't kidding when you said this place was no different to how it was last time I was here." Daniel said, looking around in amazed wonder. Hellen shrugged.

"Dad's way of keeping Mum around. I actually wish that some things would be changed. I've found it doesn't help for me to dwell on the past, but he just doesn't want to let her go."

"Neither did you."

"Moving one little jar isn't letting go of her." Hellen shook her head and pointed next to the pantry, indicating that Daniel should put the shopping down there. She looked around as a crash came from the living room.

"Perhaps our plans should be postponed." She suggested. Daniel followed her gaze, frowning slightly.

"Why?"

"Dad isn't clumsy. He doesn't trip, ever. Not unless he is drunk, and I'm about the only person who can talk sense into him when he is drunk. You being here will make things a bit harder, sorry." She said, stepping forward. Daniel held his hand out to stop her.

"I'm not letting you do this alone."

"I have in the past. Please, just go. It'll make things a lot easier. I promise I'll text you or call you later or something like that. I just... I have to deal with Dad." She sighed, looking slightly distracted. Daniel paused, not so happy about the situation, but he nodded.

"Alright. Just be careful. Talk to you later." He said, before heading to the door and letting himself out. Hellen watched for a moment, then headed off to the living room. Some of the staff were cowering in the corner of the room and her dad was going into a blind rage, yelling at them at the top of his lungs, accusing them of not doing their jobs properly. Hellen scowled.

"Dad! Calm. Down." She said, firmly and clearly. Her dad looked around at her, his eyes red, slightly bloodshot, possibly from all the drinking he had been doing recently. While he had his eyes of Hellen the work staff took the opportunity to leave the room. Hellen had the feeling they wouldn't have staff for much longer, which was fine by her, though probably less fine by her dad.

"Don't tell me what to do."

"Please, just take a deep breath and... relax." Obviously what she had told Daniel was a lie. Once her dad got to this stage, nothing could calm him down. Once upon a time her mum would have been able to, but not Hellen. In all honesty she was trying to calm herself down as well. She was scared of her dad when he was like this.

"You have no right to talk down to me like this."

"Calm down, and let's talk about this like civilised people, let's talk things over rationally." It was hard to handle her dad like this, he just made no sense, was unpredictable. He stormed over to her and shoved her backwards, sending her sprawling over the side of the sofa, collapsing in a heap on the ground. She cringed at the pain that shot up her arms, hissing in pain.

"DON'T talk to me like you know best! You're a child, that is all. You know nothing."

"I don't care if you see me as a simple child. You have no right to treat _anyone_ like this." Hellen snapped as she pushed herself to her feet, pointing a finger at her dad. Normally she wasn't so... aggressive and forthright. Normally she was quiet, more likely to stand down when confronted by her dad. She was the quiet, manipulative kind of person. But right now... right now she was furious at him, at the way he had treated his workers. Her breath was heaving in her chest, not wanting to do something she'd regret, not wanting to hurt him, but at the same time all she wanted to do was punch something. She saw red, felt her head spinning, felt like she was going to be sick. Her dad stalked towards her and she stepped back, putting her hand to her forehead and trying to make the world stop spinning.

"You think you can tell me what to do?" Her dad asked, "What gives you the impression you have power over anything? I am your dad, you can't tell me what to do." Hellen crashed against the wall, clutching her head in both hands now, almost bending double in pain. Her head felt like it was about to explode and her arms felt hot, the scars burning. Her dad continued to berate her, his voice rising in an uncontrollable rage, but by now she was paying very little attention. It felt like it was getting hotter and hotter, but at the same time it felt far from uncomfortable. The heat wasn't hurting her, the scars on her arms and her head were in agony. She whirled around and faced her dad.

"Shut up!" She roared, glaring at his alarmed face. She had never actually raised her voice like that. She sighed, feeling her rushing blood slow down, the temperature slowly returning to normal. Her dad left the room without another word (for a guy recovering from a broken arm, he sure could use it well), leaving Hellen to her thoughts. She was frowning slightly, her hair falling out of its braid and framing her face delicately, which would in normal circumstances annoy her. But she left it, her breathing ever so slightly heavy and irregular. She pulled up the sleeves of her top and looked at the scars. They were ever so slightly redder than normal, ever so slightly tender when she prodded them gently. She looked out the window, struggling to make sensible thoughts out of the words that were running riot through her mind, still in a confused muddle. Slowly she made her way over to the sofa and slouched down on its soft, slightly wrinkled cushions, kicking off her light grey sneakers and flicking her feet on the cushions. She closed her eyes, enjoying the feel of the sunlight on her eyelids, enjoying the heat it left. She let her thoughts wonder, trying to ignore the anxious feeling that was building in the back of her mind.

* * *

Caitlin frowned slightly before marking a couple of things down on a sheet of paper. The substance she was looking at through her microscope was changing slightly, becoming less gooey (She believed that was the scientific term for it), and more solid, its genetic make up becoming more like skin than goo. She peered back at it through the microscope, watching as it turned into a darker shade. Obviously she had been correct about it holding some human DNA in it. Perhaps now, with more of the sample available for testing, she would be able to find a match. But there was another question that had arisen from this. Why had it taken two weeks to return to its original, human form? Why did it take this long? Perhaps it was due to being away from the man or woman who had shed this? But again, why had it taken two weeks, why not two hours or two days? Sometimes working at S.T.A.R Labs gave her a bigger headache than she cared to admit. She jumped at the sound of someone barging an object down on a table echoed through the room and she almost pushed the microscope off the bench she was working at as she turned around and glared at Cisco. He was busy playing with his equipment, probably trying to figure out how to find Wind Lance. Somehow the metahuman had managed to avoid all attempts at being found, though that in itself was a million dollar question and would win anyone a Nobel Prize. How could someone so reportedly thick hide themselves away so well? Though it was evident that there was someone working with him. Where else would this second set of DNA have come from? And how else would the fire have started inside Finch Labs? Wind Lance had merely been a distraction, a way of keeping Barry busy while the real culprit got away and succeeded in burning the place to the ground.

"What are you doing?" Caitlin asked as she walked over to Cisco, watching over his shoulder. He sighed and leaned back.

"Trying to modify some older tech so that we can find Greene." He muttered. Caitlin nodded, thinking. It was kinda funny how Cisco refused to refer to Greene as Wind Lance, just because of how much he disapproved of the name.

"How are you going to do that?"

"I don't really know. So far he has stayed under the radar, no other attempts have worked. I probably need him to show up again and work from data I can collect from that, if we don't manage to stop him from getting away, and if he shows up again." Cisco sighed and returned to fiddling with the strange device he had on his work bench. It sort of reminded Caitlin of a vacuum cleaner in shape, but it was a lot smaller. Some of the things Cisco could come up with were truly amazing, and really strange. But they had successfully gotten Barry and the team out of numerous tight spots.

"Do you think he will show up again?" She asked. Cisco shrugged.

"Why hasn't he shown up again yet? The city is on edge, terrified by what happened to Finch Labs. Now would be a great time to show up and do more damage. Who can tell if he's going to show up again." Caitlin nodded in agreement, much though she hated to. Not knowing was truly a curse and a half.

"Well, come and have a look at this." She said, motioning for Cisco to join her at the microscope. Cisco looked down at the sample Barry had collected a couple of weeks prior and frowned.

"What the..."

"Exactly. You think we can run it through the database and see if we get a match? I know we didn't get one before, but... It's worth a shot, isn't it?"

"Definitely," He looked around and her, thinking, "So now we're dealing with two metahumans, who are probably working together."

"That's what I thought. Either that or it's a big coincidence that two of them show up in the same area at the exact same time."

"We got to tell Barry." Cisco said, walking off, completely having forgot about the mini vacuum cleaner device on the bench. Caitlin shook her head in amusement. Sometimes it seemed like Cisco had a hundred different things going on in his head at any one time, and it seemed like he could forget everything he had been planning. Sure, there could be all these other Earths and parallel universes, all too weird to even comprehend on some days, but in all of them, there could only be one Cisco Ramon.

"Well, there could be more, but I like this Cisco best." Caitlin muttered before heading out of the room to go and compare the DNA samples to other databases. Hopefully this time they'd get something. It felt like it was about time something went their way.


	4. Chapter 4

Someone knocked on the door. Why was someone visiting at this time of night? Hellen darted a look at the clock hung on the wall, the strange clock that read backwards. Her mum had bought it and Hellen could remember the difficulty she had getting used to it, at times she still struggled to read it. At other times she struggled to read normal clocks unless they were digital. It was around 8 o'clock at night, so it wasn't too late, but still later than people normally visited their house. Unless, of course, her dad was hosting a party. Well, soiree, as he preferred to call them. Fancy pants, that's what he was. She stopped chopping up onion and headed to the front door, just as her dad was opening it.

"Dr. Finch?" An older man asked. He was dark skinned, dressed rather smartly, and was slightly shorter than James Finch.

"Yes?"

"I'm Detective West, and this is Barry Allen. We're with the C.C.P.D. investigating the attack on Finch Labs. Do you mind if we come in?" The stranger asked. Hellen looked past him at Mr. Allen, thinking about as fast as the Flash could run. Well, not quite. That guy could run pretty fast. She had a few questions for him, but perhaps now wasn't the best time. She looked down at her arms, which were currently bare because she had overheated in the house due to her dad putting on the heater. She knew Mr. Allen had seen her arms before, back when the wounds were raw and fresh, but now they were nasty scars, and Detective West had never met her before. She darted back into the kitchen, hoping that she hadn't been spotted, just as James opened the door wider and let the two men in.

"How long does it take to investigate a bombing, Detective West? That happened a couple of weeks ago."

"Ah, we aren't too sure it actually was a bombing." She heard Detective West say. Her dad grunted in reply.

"What else could it have been?"

"We suspect there might have been a metahuman involved."

"You mean other than the monster throwing wind around the place?" James snarled. Hellen shook her head, returning to the chopping of onions. She didn't understand why she was doing the cooking, her dad was a much better cook than her, despite the fact they both sucked.

"Yeah. We believe the metahuman who was 'throwing wind around the place', as you put it, is Pierce Greene. Do you know why he would want to hurt you?" Detective West sure could play it cool, and with James in the mood he was currently in (well, permanently in now that he had lost his beloved labs and all his research, poor guy), he wasn't the easiest guy to stay cool with.

"His wife used to work with us. She got a brain tumour. We paid the expenses for the procedure that could, in theory, save her life. Didn't work and she died. Something tells me you already knew that. But that's the best bet I have of why he wants to hurt me."

"Do you know of anyone else who might want to hurt you?"

"I'll get you a list, shall I? I'm a scientist, quite a well known one. Maybe not as well as people like Harrison Wells or Professor Stein, but still quite well known. Not everyone agrees with the things I research, lord only knows why." Someone's phone started ringing.

"It's Cisco. I better take this. Um, is there somewhere I can...?"

"Just go through that door." Hellen jumped as the door to the kitchen from the living room opened, cutting herself with the knife as Barry Allen walked in, oh one to his ear.

"Shit." She muttered, sticking her finger in her mouth as she went to get something she could use to stem the flow, a cloth or something, then to get a band aid. Barry looked so apologetic, silently apologizing as he talked on the phone with this Cisco person. Hellen didn't overly want to listen in. Only hearing half a conversation was no fun, but she didn't particularly want to leave the safety of the kitchen to go talk to Detective West. Not that she was positive that he would talk to her, but if she was in the same room as him, the possibility increased. She glanced over at Barry, who was looking rather concerned, or something along those lines, at something the person on the other end of the phone was saying. Hellen wondered what was going on, not that it was any of her business, as she slowly and rather absent mindedly wrapped her hand in the cloth she had found. A few minutes afterwards, with Barry still talking on the phone, she pulled back the cloth and looked at the wound. What was it about little cuts bleeding the most? Well, almost the most. The cuts on her arms had bleed rather beautifully, according to what the people at the hospital had said.

"You sure?" Barry asked, catching Hellen attention. She didn't know why it caught her attention, but it did. She looked up at Barry, wrapping her finger up again, her head slightly to one side with curiosity. There was a pause as the person on the other end said something and Barry nodded. Hellen shook her head and snorted slightly. What was it about people and nodding when talking on the phone? Her dad did it too, and her mum had.

"You do realise that whoever you're talking to can't see you, yeah?" She whispered. Barry looked slightly sheepish before nodding to her.

"Yeah, right. Thanks, Cisco." And he hung up the phone, tucking it back in his pocket. He looked at Hellen, frowning ever so slightly. Hellen stayed silent, letting him take his time about things. If he was going to say something, he'd say it in his own time. Well, probably. She couldn't exactly say that she knew the guy. She moved over to the bench and shifted the sliced onion into a pan for frying later. Her dad could do it, she'd just burn it.

"Do you know anyone called Michael Steele?" Barry asked, rather suddenly and out of the blue. Hellen figured it had something to do with the phone call from this Cisco person. She frowned slightly, concentrating.

"The name is vaguely familiar. Why?"

"We think that he has something to do with the attack." Barry sighed as he put his phone back in his pocket. Hellen looked at him curiously.

"Um... may I ask why?" She asked in a rather awkward feeling manner. She leaned against the bench, trying to find a way to keep her arms as hidden as possible. It wasn't as easy as it sounded, considering the angle at which they were to each other. If the CSI agent had taken a heap of notice to her arms, he didn't show it and certainly didn't comment on it, possibly because he had seen what they looked like when the wounds were fresh.

"New evidence has shown up. You going to join us?" He motioned towards the living room and Hellen glanced in that general direction, looking unconvinced, slightly unsure about the whole situation. Slowly she shook her head.

"I... doubt that would be a good idea." She muttered.

"Why?" He seemed generally curious. He obviously wasn't a bad guy, but there was still something about him that bothered her. He still seemed weighed down, like the world was depending on him... even just having a city or a family depend on you would be enough of a weight to carry, probably. But this guy? It seemed like there was something else going on. She eyed him up thoughtfully. It still confused her why he looked familiar. Although... looking after a city would be rather tiring, and the Flash seemed to manage it. What did superheroes do when not saving the day? Did they have jobs, like normal people? Maybe... as a CSI agent? She rolled her eyes inwardly, thinking how ridiculous that idea was. There was no way that Mr. Barry Allen was the Flash. For one thing, he hadn't seemed to recognise her when they talked in the hospital.

"I am socially awkward. People aren't something I easily understand. I believe I have told you in the past I ain't too great with people."

"Joe isn't a person." Barry joked, bringing a small smile to Hellen's lips. She still looked slightly unconvinced and shook her head, unwrapping her hand and sticking a Band-Aid over the cut silently.

"I don't know what help I could be. I didn't know any of my dad's work partners or employees, I only knew the close friends of his because of a couple of dinner parties. As for this Michael Steele person... If Dad knows him then, well... Chances are he won't say anything anyway."

"Why not?"

"Because he's an idiot." Hellen snorted. She loved her dad, more than she cared to admit after his last outrage, but he was an idiot in some ways. She was socially inept, but he was just plain socially stupid and stuck up, thinking that everyone would obey him. Once upon a time he wouldn't have, but that was around five years ago. Those days seemed like a dream now.

"But if his life is in danger, wouldn't he want to tell us for protection?"

"Hmmm... chances are... no." Hellen smiled grimly and shrugged as Barry shook his head in disbelief.

"Why wouldn't he tell anyone?"

"He's James Finch. He thinks he has control over the world, no one will harm him. He doesn't want to face reality."

"I thought he was a genius?"

"He is. But he's like me. Not good with people. He just looks at them like some sort of science experiment, nothing more."

"Sounds like such a nice guy." Barry muttered. Hellen shrugged slightly, looking away.

"He wasn't always like that." She responded, looking at the door to the living room as though she had x-ray vision and could see her dad. Barry felt slightly sorry for her. She'd been through a lot. She shook her head and looked back at him.

"Back in the hospital, why was it you asking questions and not an actual detective? You're CSI, not a detective. "

"Ah... there was a shortage of detectives and police because they were all investigating the attack at the scene, so I got sent to ask you questions."

"But wouldn't it make more sense to send a detective and have a proper CSI agent looking over the scene of the crime? It'd make more sense to me." Hellen could almost see Barry's mind working, could see the little cogs in his brain whirring, trying to come up with some way to reason with her, make her believe him. In some ways it was rather entertaining. In other ways it made her doubt his sincerity, doubt how much she could trust him.

"Try telling that to our captain." Barry smiled. Hellen snorted, smiling slightly. She still didn't believe a word of what he was saying. He was hiding something.

"One other thing that's been bothering me..." She said, rather hesitantly. Barry looked a little uncertain, but nodded.

"Shoot."

"How did you get out of the hospital so quickly?" There was a moment's silence. Hellen watched Barry closely, curious about what his answer would be. He wasn't an idiot, she knew that. He'd come up with a reason, he had to. She just wanted to know that the suspicions forming were wrong, she didn't want him to be the guy she thought he might be.

"I went into another room because there were other people I had been asked to question in the rooms around you."

"... Right..." She wasn't too convinced, but it would be the best she would get. At that moment Detective West popped his head around the corner. Hellen looked at him, wondering why he was wearing a beanie in this kind of heat, though it might feel cooler to him than it did to her. He looked a her, seemingly mildly surprised.

"Hi." He said. Hellen smiled shyly at him and nodded slightly.

"Hey."

"You Hellen?" He asked, to which she nodded.

"Yes. Um... Barry asked me questions." She didn't really want to talk to someone else today, not a stranger. Detective West nodded, then looked at Barry.

"I'm ready to go if you are." He said. Hellen decided she liked his voice. It was kind, unlike what she had grown accustomed to from her dad. She missed how her dad used to be, but she couldn't turn back time. That was impossible. Well, supposedly. The government or top secret research facilities had probably figured out how to do it, though her dad had come up with a couple of rather long winded theories on how speed could open up a worm hole to allow you to travel back in time maybe a day or so, but it would require something else to allow you unlimited access to travel through time. Something about collisions with atoms and the like. In truth, Hellen hardly understood any of it unless it was dumbed down for her, just not so dumbed down as her dad made it.

"I just have one more question for Dr. Finch." Barry replied, heading out to the living room. Hellen felt like warning him again that her dad wouldn't answer, but there was no point. She hardly knew the guy and she already knew that Barry Allen was a bull headed idiot at times. She could see that he could be stubborn, just like Daniel could be. Detective West watched him and Hellen peered around the corner, seeing her dad rubbing his shoulder.

"Dr. Finch, do you know someone called Michael Steele?"

"Mr. Allen, I have meet more people in one week than you have in your entire lifetime. I cannot be expected to remember them all." James snapped, in a rather grouchy manner. Hellen shook her head, frowning slightly. She knew her dad well enough to know when he was lying. Barry nodded.

"Thank you." He said, then nodded to Detective West. James accompanied them to the door, Hellen not too far behind him. Barry looked back once, as though asking Hellen for her help on this one. Obviously he hadn't believed her dad either. Hellen eyes silently flicked to her dad, then back to Barry and she nodded ever so slightly. He smiled gratefully just as the door was being closed. Hellen returned to the kitchen, calling back over her shoulder to her dad.

"Onions are ready for cooking, since you made the staff quit."

"I'm sorry for that, alright?"

"Hey, I'm completely fine with it. You just have to do more cooking." She smiled cheekily at her dad and he shook his head.

"We really need someone who can cook here, don't we?"

"Yyyyyup. I ain't volunteering."

* * *

"So what did Cisco say?" Joe asked. Barry looked around as he buckled himself into the car. He would run, but they needed to talk.

"The substance I found at the scene of Jones' murder changed. It ended up being able to reveal some human DNA, which belonged to Michael Steele. I don't know if Dr. Finch was telling the truth about not knowing Steele."

"You think he was lying?"

"I don't know. There also seems to be something weird with his daughter, but that might just be because she's socially awkward, as she put it."

"If they're hiding anything, we'll find it. Don't worry too much, we'll find these guys." Barry knew Joe was trying to be comforting, but quite frankly, these guys had been hiding for ages. The chances of them being found before they attacked again were slim, and Barry still had to find a way to beat them, which considering that he didn't even know what the second guy could do, apart from leave a trail of slime behind him, finding a way to beat him would be easier said than done. But weren't most things when your night-job (for want of a better way of putting it) was fighting metahumans. Joe pulled out into the traffic, though it was quite a quiet part of the city, there was still a fair bit, and turned on the radio. Barry didn't pay much attention to what was being said, he needs to think. Every time he thought they were getting close to answers, something happened and they were pushed back. A frown formed on his face and he mentally kicked himself. Why hadn't he thought of it earlier? Jay might know something about these metahumans, there might be doubles of them from Earth-2. If Barry – if anyone – had thought of asking him sooner, then it was altogether possible that they would have caught Wind Lance and his unknown associate ages ago. Thinking on it further, it was certainly strange that no one had thought of asking Jay. They had plenty of opportunities to, they should have done it, there were so many of them that could have come up with the idea of asking, and yet no one had. Barry sighed. He was probably just over thinking things, and he knew it.


	5. Chapter 5

Snart looked over his cold gun, the pieces lying neatly on the table. He was sure something had seemed a little off about it when they had preformed their last heist – and now he could see why. One of the wires was fried. True, not a wire that was too important, but important enough to make a difference. He was just starting to put the gun back together again when Rory entered the room, making a bit of a scene as he did so. The door slammed open and in a couple of strides, he dumped himself down in a chair. Snart looked over at his partner, vaguely unimpressed. Not that he really cared how Mick acted, but when he was concentrating, Snart did not like interruptions too much.

"What is it now, Mick?" He asked.

"She's getting impatient." Was the reply. Snart rolled his eyes and went back to his work. That woman was strange, acted like she knew him too well. He could swear that she knew things that no one else should, and something about her just felt... off.

"She's the one who said everything was in place. I'm sure she can wait a bit longer."

"I'm afraid not, Mr. Snart." Snart looked around and spotted the woman leaning against the wall, her face obscured by shadow, her arms folded across her chest. He couldn't make out any distinguishing features about her, not hair colour, not eye colour, no facial features. Even her height was hard to determine, she always seemed to be slouched against something when they met up. She wore dark jeans and a leather jacket with some sort of crest on the back, something tied to a kids game, as he learnt one time when she caught him trying to identify who she was. Unfortunately, the crest led to a dead end. Only thing he got was a bunch of information about Legend of Zelda, nothing that he was overly interested in. Snart's eyes narrowed slightly, not trusting this woman. From what he _could_ make out about her, she was in her late twenties, maybe early thirties, though that might have been pushing it.

"How did you get in here?"

"Your friend Mr. Rory was helpful enough to open the door long enough for me to get the general idea of the layout of this place. From there it was an easy enough feat to enter undetected. Your security really is dreadful. But enough of that." She pushed herself away from the wall, the first time Snart had actually seen her at her full height. She wasn't that tall, was a reasonable amount shorter than him, she was maybe 5'8, but she held herself with a sense that made her seem somehow taller, more imposing. Snart had always been able to tell she was someone who commanded respect, someone who knew how things were meant to be, and nothing would stop her from getting them her way. She walked up to Snart, almost coming right up to him. Despite her face no longer being covered in shadow, he still couldn't make out anything about her. It annoyed him, more than he could say.

"Soon, Dr. Finch will have to go to his bank. For what reason, it does not matter. He will most likely go at around 11:15 AM, and he will have his daughter with him. That would be the best time to get it from her. You understand?"

"I made a deal with someone. If anyone gets hurt –"

"Oh, please, Mr. Snart. I know about your arrangement with the Flash. You keep his identity secret, he doesn't send you somewhere no one will ever hear about you again. I know about all that, I have my sources. But you don't need to hurt anyone, you simply need to get what I asked for." Snart's eyes narrowed and he stepped around his workbench to get closer to the woman.

"I don't see what's so important to you about this crystal that makes you hire us to retrieve it for you. We've told you before –"

"You don't work for people. Yes, so I've been told. Trust me when I say this, Mr. Snart. You may not work for others, you may not even work for me. But currently, you will do as I say. If this partnership ends up crashing and burning... then you will to. That's a promise." The woman's lips twitched up in a sneer, and she looked up at him just enough so he could see one of her eyes. It was blue, but that obviously wasn't the real colour. He could make out the edge of a contact lens, this woman was good. But Snart had seen enough, he might be able to get an id on her, if things were going his way. She pushed past him and headed out the door.

"I'll see you soon, Snart, Rory. Behave yourselves, my little minions." Her voice was light, teasing. Snart sneered as the door closed behind her and he returned to working on his cold gun.

"What are we going to do?" Rory asked in his usual, gruff voice. Snart knew better than anyone he didn't like taking orders, especially not from someone he didn't know.

"We do as she says." Snart sounded just as unimpressed, just as irritated, just as pissed off as Rory did. That woman though she was in charge, but was she really?

* * *

 **Author's note: Sorry it's a short chapter. I'll try to remember to update again later today.**


	6. Chapter 6

She put her hand down on the cold, polished handle and paused a moment before pushing down. It was evident she was beginning to doubt herself, she had never done anything like this before and she hadn't been told why she needed to retrieve this item, only that she did. Slowly, she pressed down and pushed the door silently open, thankful that the door was well oiled and didn't creak. As she stepped over the front mat, her heart started pounding almost painfully in her chest, the adrenaline coursing through her veins in the silence. Immediately she made her way over to a cabinet nearby and started rummaging through the draws as quietly as she could, wishing she could turn on a light, but knowing she couldn't, for her own safety. She was breaking the law, not the best idea for someone with her background, considering the wouldn't have the required skill set from earlier experience. Nineteen was starting to get to the stage where it was harder to learn these skills. Harder, but not impossible. In some ways it was possibly a heck of a lot easier. The papers beneath her fingers made quiet swishing noise, the occasional click as metal clips knocked together. Behind her there was a faint sound and the lights came on, making her blink from the sudden brightness.

"The hell are you?!" A man raged from behind her. Slowly she turned around and looked at him, doing her best to keep her face hidden. Being identified would be a dumb idea, considering how many people could, in theory, recognise who she was in context with who her dad was. The man stepped forward, rage written in red all over his face.

"You get out right now! I'm gonna – " She lunged for him, aiming to knock him out, but failed and instead just pushed him over, her fingers applying pressure to his eyes. He cried out in pain and threw her off as easily as he would throw a sack of potatoes over his shoulder, for he was quite a strong looking fellow. He moved to attack her, his eyesight blurred and his movements sluggish, giving her enough time to dodge out of the way.

"You little bitch." He muttered, spinning around and almost tripping her up. That was when the red started creeping in at the due of her vision, the anger started boiling in her blood, a type of bloodlust setting in. She wanted this man to pay, wanting to hurt him. She lunged, gripping him around the throat and hauling him to his feet, then carelessly threw him over to the glass doors that lead out to a balcony. He muttered a few crude words, then stumbled back to her, obviously wanting to make her pay. But she couldn't let that happen. She had to find... something. It was important. She couldn't let this man get in her way. She grabbed him by his wrists and swung him around, like children used to do when playing in the playgrounds at school, lifting his feet off the ground, releasing him once again in the direction of the window. This time the man didn't stop. He went straight through the glass and out over the edge, by some miracle just managing to grab a hold of the railing. The red faded from the edge of her eyesight and she rushed forward, not wanting the man to fall. She reached out and grabbed his wrist, wanting to pull him back up, feeling guilty about what she had done. She wanted to help, not to hurt, but all the same a cry of agony escaped his mouth, the cars below zooming past, sweetly oblivious to what was happening six stories up in the flat. Confusion riddled her face, unsure about what was happening. Then she saw it, the blood making its way down his arm, originating from where her hand was gripping. Or she thought it was her hand. She could have sworn that once upon a time it had been her hand. Instead it was covered in black scales, claws protruding from her fingers instead of fingernails, and her hand itself was slightly deformed, as though it was trying to become more like a bird's foot, the thumb seeming to try and move around to the back. The look on the man's face coupled with the shock of what she was doing and what was happening to what had once been her body was enough to cause her to release her grip. The last thing she noticed was the look of utter horror as the man hung suspended in the air for what felt like eternity, and yet only one second, before he fell to his fell to his death, a blood curdling scream escaping him.

* * *

Hellen's eyes opened to the see her wall in the dark room, sweat making her pyjamas and blankets stick to her back, her breath coming in ragged gasps. The dream had been vivid, more vivid than any dream she could remember having since the accident that killed her mum and brother, the pain from her arms coming in quick shocks, as though she had an electric fence implanted in her arm. For a moment she simply lay there in quiet thought, then the shock of what had happened passed and tears started running down her face. Never before had she killed someone, even in a dream. She wasn't that kind of person. And yet she had pretty much thrown someone off a balcony and killed him. Slowly she rolled over and placed her feet on the ground, pulling her blanket up and around her shoulders before going out her room and making her way to the kitchen, thinking only about how much she could use a coffee. Preferably strong. It was only vaguely surprising when she spotted her dad asleep in the armchair, a bottle of beer still half full in his hand. Hellen smiled slightly and headed over to him, removing the bottle from his hand gently and placing it on the wooden stool next to the chair which was currently serving as a table before grabbing an old, rugged, dog eaten blanket from the couch next to him and draping it over him. In truth, all she felt for the aging man was sorrow. Everything it seemed like he had something to live for, something happened and it was taken from him, leaving him an empty shell of what he once was, living from the bottle. It was about all she could think about as she prepared everything for her coffee, how much her dad had changed since she was a kid, and the dream she had. Her eyes moved down to her scarred arms, wishing that she could undo what had happened, turn back time and erase it, redo things. Though she supposed that if she had the time to turn things back, the chance to fix things, the thing she'd be most likely to fix was the crash. Everyone creates their own demons, and hers was blame, the blame she had for herself. She had been in the crash, she had been hauled from the carnage, she alone had survived. Many times she had wondered if it had been a mistake, if it was supposed to be her that had been saved and not her brother or mum. They had always seemed so much more important than her. Hellen looked back over her shoulder at the sleeping figure of her dad, a small smile playing on her lips. Perhaps she wasn't the one that should have been saved. But there was one person who she could help. Her dreams were nothing, they were just dreams. Bad dreams, but dreams nonetheless. Her dad, however, and his problems... they were real. And all she wanted was to try and fix them.

* * *

 **Author's Note: OK, so again it isn't very long, but I may or may not have managed to leave the draft ideas somewhere I can't actually get at them. Anyway, this chapter with the previous chapter would be about the typical length for my normal chapters, so it all evens out. Sorry that I've been so slack, I'll try to do a bit more writing so next week it'll be one proper length chapter :)**


	7. Chapter 7

She sighed, utterly bored, watching her dad as he stood in the line at the bank. She didn't understand why he had made her go with him, it wasn't like she needed a baby sitter anymore, hell, if she wanted to she could get a home of her own, then she wouldn't have to put up with her dad babying her. And she certainly hadn't told him about the dream. How was Hellen supposed to tell him that she dreamed she murdered someone when trying to steal something from them, even if it was just a dream? She sighed again and leaned against the wall, hiding her arms, feeling rather insecure. There were too many people, and she could feel the eyes of a few of them boring holes in her skin. She shifted uncomfortably, wishing that she could just leave, wishing that her dad had never made her accompany him. He was still only halfway to the desk. Hellen pulled back her sleeve slightly and started running her fingers over her scars, pondering the ways scar tissue actually formed. There had been an episode of Fringe where David Robert Jones had somehow engineered a powdered formula that stimulated growth in scar tissue and made it grow over all open holes, such as the nose and mouth. In the end, the victim suffocated. The writer for that program had a rather twisted imagination, though in this day and age, that kind of occurrence was far from the impossible. For all she knew there was a metahuman out there who could stimulate the growth of human tissue and suffocate them with their own skin. It sounded like a rather painful way to go, having your skin melt over your eyes, nose, mouth, and suffocate you to death. Those thoughts weren't something you would like to have hanging over you when you're going to sleep, and when the Particle Accelerator exploded and the first metahuman had come to light, Hellen had begun having nightmares of all the powers new villains could theoretically have. At that moment a blast of blue flame-like stuff wrapped itself around one of the tall marble pillars near Hellen. She knew that blast. She spun around and spotted Goggles Guy there, looking altogether too pleased with himself. Next to him stood his partner in crime, the big guy who had helped move the fallen beam off her legs not so long ago. Mick, if Hellen remembered correctly. But, considering the amount of pain she ad been in and how confused she had been at the time, she could be completely wrong. Her heart was thumping in her chest and she quickly glanced at her dad. He looked as though he was about to leave the line and go over to her.

"Get down on the ground, calmly and quietly." Goggles said. After a seconds' hesitation, Hellen did as he said. She didn't want anything to happen to her or anyone else there, so it was better to just go along with it. James was the last to do as he was told. Hellen looked at the pillar, still with ice on it, and frowned. This guy saved her life, why was he doing this? Besides, in the middle of the day (well, almost, 11:15 was close enough to midday), it was honestly a dumb time for a heist. Mick walked around the place, looking at all the terrified faces, seeming to drink in their fear in some ways, but at the same time seemed as though he didn't care in the slightest. Hellen watched him closely as he walked towards her, then paused when his eyes met hers. Goggles had gone somewhere out the back, probably relieving people of their money. Mick slowly crouched before Hellen, his flame thrower resting in his hands. He wanted to use it, Hellen could see it in his eyes. Fear started to bubble inside her and she clenched her fists. She didn't like this, not one bit. She looked at Mick and held his eye, not wanting to appear weak.

"Do I know you?" Mick asked after a second. His voice was gruff, almost angry in some respects. Hellen swallowed, then slowly shook her head.

"I don't think so, sir." She whispered. Mick took Hellen's chin I'm his hand and turned her head slightly, evidently not believing her.

"Don't touch her!" James spat, moving to stand up, to gauge Mick's eyes out, anything to get him away from his daughter, to hurt him. Hellen was more worried for her dad in that one moment than she had been in a long time, more worried than she had been even when Finch Labs was collapsing. Mick shot up and Hellen heard his gun preparing to fire, could see the malice in the man's eyes. She could only watch in horror, her eyes moving from one man to the other, Mick to her dad. She shook her head and slowly her dad calmed down, still glaring at Mick.

"Snart!" Mick yelled to wherever his partner was. Hellen looked back at the ground. So it had been a couple of criminals who had saved her back at Finch Labs. She wasn't going to tell her dad about this, he'd freak. After a moment Goggles reappeared, glaring at Mick.

"What?" He sounded unimpressed.

"You're gonna want to see this." Mick's eyes seemed to almost pop out of his head and he looked like a rabid dog, the only thing missing was the foam around the mouth. Although, he'd probably show symptoms from the furious form of rabies as apposed to the dumb form. Hellen silently chastised herself. The middle of a robbery was not the time to think about the different forms of rabies. Goggles walked over to her a d crouched where Mick had been, watching Hellen intently.

"Nice to see you again." By now Hellen was beginning to shake. At the best of times she struggled to talk to people, but talking to the men who were robbing the bank she was in, the men who were threatening her and her dad along with everyone else there, it terrified her more than words could describe. And yet, somehow, a part of her felt completely calm. She didn't say anything, didn't look at Snart. She was now confused. They had saved her, and yet now it seemed like they were threatening her life. Usually by now the Flash would have arrived to save the day. Why wasn't he there now? Come to think of it, there were a few banks that had been robbed in thee past and the Flash had done nothing. She frowned slightly, her mind working as fast as it could, trying to find answers for these impossible questions, answers that didn't scream that the Flash was as wimp or something along those lines.

"Something on your mind?" Snart asked.

"Just trying to work something out." Hellen looked back at him, still thinking. For a moment they just looked at each other, wondering what the other was thinking. Goggles stood up and started to walk away. Hellen felt herself starting to relax, thinking that it was all over, that soon she could go home.

"Grab her, Mick, and let's go." Ice shot through her veins as her mind processed what had been said, then felt Mick grab her by the shoulder before forcing her arms behind her back. James stood up and forced his way over to her before Mick hit him over the head with his gun. Hellen struggled against his grip, trying to get to her fallen father, wanting to get away to make sure he was alright, wanting to get away from the crooks. No matter how much she struggled or objected she couldn't get away. All she could do was slow them down, maybe enough for the authorities to arrive. Her uncle and cousins had tried to teach her self defence when she had stayed with them, but she had never gotten the hang of it. Right now, however, her failings may help to slow them down. She stomped down hard on Mick's foot, making him roar in shock and pain before he hit her around the head, making her fall to the ground, shock hitting hard before she realised what had happened. She glanced at her dad and scrambled over to check on him, but Mick grabbed her hair and wrenched her to her feet, making her cry out in pain.

"We don't have time got this, Mick!" Goggles scowled, his freezey gun thingy – cold gun – winding up. Hellen looked at him defiantly, her arms having been forced painfully behind her back again, her scars burning where Mick held them.

"You won't kill me. If you were going to you'd have done so by now."

"I'm starting to change my mind about keeping you around." Goggles sneered. Hellen felt her heart skip a beat and she knew her eyes widened ever so slightly with fear. Goggles smirked slightly and pushed the doors open. Hellen looked at Mick, then at her dad, who was just starting to wake up.

"Daddy!" Hellen threw all her weight around to try and get a better look at him, but Mick didn't budge. Evidently he could now adjust to her erratic behaviour.

"Come on, Princess, you're coming with us." He muttered in her ear. Hellen was then forced out of the building, lead by Mick and Goggles, who proceeded to ice the doors shut.

"Doesn't ice just make it brittle? Won't they just be able to smash their way through?" Hellen asked, a rather spiteful tone in her voice. Goggles looked at her.

"Don't tell me how to do my job."

"Why did you choose this? You saved my life, why are you a criminal?" Hellen tried to pull away, but Mick held her tight. Goggles stepped forward and peered into her face.

"Because it's fun."

"Then why did you save me at all? What was the point?"

"You have something that I want." Hellen watched Goggles warily. She wasn't sure if she wanted to know the answer to the question that was burning itself into her mind.

"What do I have that you want?"

"You'll find out." Goggles nodded to Mick and before Hellen had time to wonder what was going on, he hit her hard enough to make her world go dark and her legs no longer manage to hold her.

* * *

 **Author's Note: I'm going to try to continue updating on Wednesdays (over here anyway) just so I keep better track of my updating, see if I can actually keep on time. Although, a word of warning, I might be slowing down a bit due to something like three or four assignments all due soonish and around the same time, so I won't have as much to work on this. But I promise that I will try. :)**


	8. Chapter 8

"Pierce Greene was a scientist back on my Earth. Smart guy, he figured out the key to the Finch Engine." Jay said, looking at the picture of Greene that was on the screen. Barry looked interested.

"Is that the engine that's supposed to convert air into energy by working up the –"

"Does it matter how it works? It's all Greek to me." Joe didn't hugely enjoy all the science talk, didn't understand it very well, and he honestly didn't appreciate feeling like an idiot. Barry looked over at him, slightly apologetic.

"Sorry. I just have to know..." He looked back at Jay, "How did he figure it out? Dr. Finch has been having trouble with that engine for years."

"It was a simple matter of rerouting the electrons to go past the centre of the engine to make the path shorter."

"Seriously? That's all it was?"

"There were a couple of other things, but that was the main problem. The rest worked itself out after Greene figured that out." Jay nodded and Barry looked impressed. Joe shook his head, pointing at them while talking to Caitlin.

"Why did we end up with two of them?" He asked. She smiled.

"Having Jay here is a big help. He knows things that we don't, and those two could work out so much together. Jay did used to be speedster."

"Doesn't stop them giving me a headache." Joe muttered. Cisco pointed at the screen from his seat, one hand still behind his head and his feet crossed on the desk. He looked most relaxed.

"So, any idea where this crazy guy is?"

"Only place that really comes to mind is where his wife is. On my world they're split, but they still get along quite well. There is suspicion that they're still together, even if they aren't married." That confused everyone in the room more than anything about the Finch Labs could.

"Why would they be together, but... not together?" Caitlin asked what everyone else was thinking.

"That's the million dollar question."

"Well, his wife is dead, so he's definitely not with her." Joe pointed out. Barry frowned.

"But that doesn't mean he's not where she used to live," He looked back at Jay, "Do you know what the address was?"

"We never actually worked together. All I know is that they still spent a lot of time together, even if they weren't married or supposed to be together."

"This is making no sense at all." Cisco muttered, flinging his feet to the floor and starting to type away at the computer in front of him, running a search through all the databases he could to see if there was any match to where Stay Greene had lived in the past. Something like where her parents lived or any siblings, even one of her past apartments or something like that. He'd then cross reference that to where there had been any sign of strange wind patterns. In his pocket, Joe's phone began vibrating, his ring tone sounding through the silent room. He stood up, pulling it out of his pocket.

"Excuse me a moment." He said. Barry nodded and turned back to Jay.

"Is there anything else you can tell us about Greene? Does he have any close friends that might be a metahuman and able to help him or something?" He asked as Joe left the room. Joe didn't hear the answer as he stepped out into the hall, putting the phone to his ear.

"Detective West." He said as he answered it. He listened to the voice at the other end in silence, a frown slowly creasing his brow. The man on the other end wasn't making any sense, sounding like he was talking in a rush, as though he himself didn't understand it all.

"Slow down. What's happened?"

 _"Sir, there's been a robbery at a bank nearby. Leonard Snart and Mick Rory. This time they didn't just take money."_ The voice said.

"What else did they take?"

 _"You're the one taking the lead of the Finch Labs investigation, aren't you?"_

"Yeah, but what's that got to do with anything?" This guy was making no sense. How could a bank robbery have anything to do with what was going on with Finch Labs? If it was Wind Lance then Cisco's alarm would have gone off, so that obviously wasn't the connection (unless the alarm didn't work, which was entirely possible).

 _"Well, the girl, Hellen Finch, she was at the bank. Snart took her. We don't know where."_ Joe froze. As though things couldn't have gotten any more complicated, now the girl was gone. Snart had been in Finch Labs when it had blown up. He had helped Hellen out of there. And now he had kidnapped her? Did he play a bigger role in this than originally thought?

"Thanks for letting me know. I'll look into it." He was lost in thought as he lowered the phone and slipped it back into his pocket. Perhaps things would make more sense now that there was a clearer connection between Snart and the Finch's? But what was it that the Finch's had that Snart wanted? Money? But then why didn't he just take it? Why feel the need to kidnap a nineteen year old girl? That didn't sound like Snart at all. There was something about this case that made it feel like it was never going to be solved, but Joe didn't want to admit that. He'd had hard cases before, but he usually managed to break them. It was rare for him to completely fail in catching a criminal. And that was all before S.T.A.R Labs started helping out. With the technology they supplied (though he didn't understand any of it) things started to get a lot easier to solve. All the technology in the world could only help solve a crime. Without someone to say what to look for, the technology was useless. And without a lead, the person investigating couldn't even start beginning to unravel what had happened. Joe rubbed his hand down his face, wanting inspiration to suddenly strike him, some part of the puzzle to fall into place, but he knew it wouldn't.

* * *

Barry looked up as Joe came back in and immediately knew that something was wrong. It was written all over the older man's face. He frowned.

"What's up?" He asked, turning around properly to face him. Everyone else looked up from what they were doing, their eyes either falling on Barry or Joe. Joe's eyes locked with Barry's.

"Just got news about Hellen Finch. Snart took her." Everyone froze.

"Do we know why? I mean, there doesn't seem to be anything about her that would make Snart want to take her." Cisco sounded rather incredulous. He'd never met Hellen before, but he wanted to. From the few things that Barry had said about her, she seemed like she was a nice person. And smart. She sounded interesting, and not many people knew anything about her, which was quite interesting. How could someone who had a dad so well known be so invisible? Cisco wanted an answer. Barry frowned, thinking hard.

"When we talked in the hospital her arms were completely bandaged. She had scads completely up them from something. I think she mentioned something in her dad's lab exploding and entering her arms, that's why they were so badly injured. Maybe whatever exploded was important and they think she knows where it is?" Joe nodded in agreement.

"That makes sense. I think it's time we talked to Dr. Finch again and found out what was in that lab."

"I'll be right with you. Just got a couple of things to handle first." Barry said. Joe nodded and headed out again.

"I'll be in the car." The door shut behind Joe and Barry turned to Cisco.

"Dig up what you can on Hellen Finch. Who knows what might help us? We don't even know if she's on out team or not."

"You think she's with Snart and Greene?" Caitlin asked. Barry shrugged.

"I don't know. But it's a possibility. Jay, did you know anything about the Hellen Finch from Earth Two?"

"She died in the car crash that killed her mom. It was her brother who survived, not her," Jay folded his arms, thinking, "There were theories that she wasn't actually Dr. Finch's daughter, but they were never proven. The Hellen Finch from my world wasn't very well known though."

"Well, at least some things don't change. I'll see you guys when I get back." Barry left where Joe had, worried about Hellen, but also wondering what part in all of this she had to play. Perhaps it was time for him to organise a meeting with his old friend Snart.

* * *

 **Author's note: Sorry it's a short chapter. I just didn't want to sayour what's** **going on with Hellen right now. That's for next week. This week is just to let you get your own thoughts, come up with your theories. How do you think everything ties together?**


	9. Chapter 9

The first thing Hellen noticed was the pounding in her head, making her feel vaguely sick. She reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose, groaning slightly as the dim light in the room bombarded her eyes. She blinked a few times to clear her vision before looking around the room, confused. Where was she? It wasn't a place she recognised, looked like an abandoned warehouse or something like that, dust layering the windowsills and the hanging lights. Slowly she stood up, vaguely surprised that she wasn't tied up. Surely it would have made more sense to keep her tied up so she couldn't escape? Not that she'd get very far if she did manage to escape. If she didn't know where she was, she wouldn't know where to go. Besides, there was only one door that was small enough for her to actually open, and Mick and Goggles were probably on the other side of it. Not Goggles. Snart. A frown creased her forehead as she tried to think. The name was familiar. Surely it should be easier for her to place him than this? Perhaps the knock to her head was harder than she had originally thought and that was why she was having trouble thinking straight. It sounded logical to her, but she was never one of those people who could understand what medics and the like were going on about. After what happened to her mum and brother, she actively tried to avoid people like that. Not because she didn't like them, simply because she didn't trust herself to manage to handle them. OK, she didn't really like them, but through no fault of their own. Hellen walked over to a work bench not too far away, a gun on it. Not just any gun, the cold gun. It fascinated her, had for a long time. How did it work? Who had made it? Why had they made it? Was it to fight the Flash or something like that? The opposite of heat was cold, and speed created heat. Unless you're thinking along the lines of how heat makes particles move faster, where heat makes speed, so it would make sense that cold can beat the Flash. But there was nothing to prove that Hellen's theory was correct. She reached out a hand and touched the cold gun, running her fingers across it as she inspected it. Sure, she didn't take science as a subject at university, but she enjoyed it all the same. She was simply too lazy and didn't really want all her and her dad to talk about to be science. Not that her plan had worked. As soon as she realised where her train of thought was going she pushed it out of her mind, returning to the cold gun. Was there any way that she could improve it? No, she wouldn't actually try to improve it, that would be stupid, but it was fun to see if she could come up with a theory that might work. Maybe if she removed that wire... right there, connect it instead to that wire, the solder it together right there, the power would be rerouted and maybe it would have a faster cool down time? But the creator must have thought about that, there had to be a reason why he or she hadn't done it. What problems would have arisen? She was so wrapped up in her thoughts and inspection of the cold gun that she didn't notice the door open and close behind her.

"What are you doing?" The gruff, rumbling voice of Mick asked. Hellen jumped, spinning around to face him, the cold gun falling the to bench with a loud rattle. She cringed, hating herself for being caught out so easily, feeling herself beginning to shake, whether from fear of the man standing before her or anger about how she had reacted and how easily caught out she had been, she wasn't too sure. Perhaps it was a bit of both.

"I was just looking." She stammered, trying to keep her breathing even. She had dealt with Mick before, she could do it again. Why was she so scared of him all of a sudden? Or was it earlier that had been abnormal? Well, the answer to that one was obvious, but then it created new questions. Why hadn't she been scared of him and Snart earlier? Mick looked in her in that strange way of his, as though he was trying (and failing) to read the intentions of a goldfish or something like that.

"Why should I believe you?" He asked after a moment. Hellen swallowed, shaking her head slightly and stepping away from the bench slowly.

"Um... I don't think you should, sir. To trust someone who you don't know... well, it makes little to no sense."

"Mick, stop scaring her." Snart ordered as he walked into the room, not even bothering to look at the other two. Hellen watched him, though she felt less scared of him than Mick. He seemed to have more control over what he did, seemed to be slightly easier to understand. Mick was... well, despite his actions being reasonably easy to read, he wasn't actually easy to read at all. She didn't know him, so couldn't really read him. Mick just grunted and walked over to an armchair, flopping down in it lazily. He was less imposing when he was sitting like that. Snart turned to look at Hellen, a thoughtful expression on his face. Hellen looked at him, trying to act like she wasn't terrified of him and his companion.

"Sorry we had to bring you here in such a... crude manner." Snart said. Hellen shrugged.

"Did you have to do anything?" She countered, finding her feet at last. Snart she could deal with – he had enough of a brain so she could reason with him, unlike Mick. Snart smiled slightly, though it held no kindness in it.

"Let's just say that someone wants something from you." He replied. Hellen frowned.

"Didn't you say something about me having something that you want? Before you got your goon there to knock me out." She instantly regretted saying it. Mick growled and looked like he wanted to set her on fire, but Snart held up his hand and leaned against the work bench with his cold gun sitting on top of it, folding his arms.

"I want it because then I'll get paid when I hand it over." He explained.

"Well, what is it that you want?" Hellen asked, tugging nervously on her sleeves, thinking of all the things he could want. Her dad, maybe some prized piece of jewellery her mum used to own which she had now inherited, something else entirely? Maybe information from one of her dad's research programs? Snart thought for a moment.

"When Finch Labs exploded, we were actually looking for something. Instead, we found you. Learned afterwards that what we wanted had exploded and ended up in you."

"The weird crystal thing in Dad's office?"

"Precisely."

"Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but ah..." She paused, thinking briefly about whether this was a smart idea, "The doctors didn't find anything in my arms. They have no idea what happened to cause the scars." Snart frowned, stepping forward. Hellen shrunk back, away from him, not sure exactly what it was he was planning on doing.

"Show me your arms." He said. Hellen slowly pulled back the sleeve covering her right arm, scolding it out to show him.

"The crystal hit you. We got there just after it happened."

"Yeah, but the crystal wasn't in my arms. There was nothing there."

"Is there something that your boss didn't tell us?" Mick asked, making Hellen frown.

"Boss? I thought that – "

"There are a lot of things that she doesn't tell us. But now she'll have some explaining to do." Snart muttered, rather dangerously. He walked past Hellen, ignoring her as she let out a small breath of relief. Mick got up and followed him and they had a rather heated discussion, from what Hellen could see. There was definitely something not right about this whole situation, though she couldn't really out her finger on what. Snart and Mick didn't really seem like the type to take orders from anyone, let alone someone who by the sounds of things they didn't know. She looked at the cold gun, stepping forward to look at it again. This time she noticed a rather crumpled piece of paper next to it, a picture of a woman on it. Hellen frowned and picked it up, her hand starting to shake slightly. Even though it was a very rough drawing, only on its early stages, and black and white... the person looking back at her looked distinctly familiar. But that was impossible... why would they have a picture of her? Hellen dropped the picture and stumbled backwards, completely confused, shocked about what she had just seen. She didn't even notice that she was backing into the chair she had woken up in, only realising it was there when she fell over it with a loud crash. Snart and Mick looked over at her, ceasing their conversation, and headed over out her. Neither of them said anything, Snart looking at her with mild concern in his eye. Hellen looked at him, not sure whether to be even more scared of him or to trust him, not understanding why he would be concerned about her. He had kidnapped her, knocked her out, had probably been the one to draw the woman on that piece of paper, even though he couldn't make out details or hadn't gotten around to drawing them in or something. Hellen would have been able to recognise that face anywhere.

"Wh-where did you get... that picture. Where did you get it?" She asked, pointing at the bench.

"Why?" Snart asked. Hellen shook her head.

"Because... because if you saw her then... well, you're a bigger creep, sick, twisted bastard than I realised and you need some serious help." She said, making Snart just look confused.

"At the risk of sounding like a broken record player... why?"

"Because you can't have seen her. She's dead. And has been for ages."

"How do you know?"

"Because that woman looks a lot like my mum, you imbecile!" Hellen raged, pushing him back and leaping to her feet, the anger overwhelming her, the heat rising, "And my mum is dead! She's never coming back, and if this is your idea of some kind of a joke, then I can assure you that it is not in the least bit funny."

"Well this just got interesting." Mick mumbled, glancing at Snart, who was thinking. Hard.

"You know, I don't think we've ever actually been introduce. Leonard Snart."

"Ha, yeah... I think most people here know who you are," Hellen countered, turning her back on him, "Hellen Finch. My dad's James Finch."

"So your mum would be...?"

"Lillian Finch. Not that you didn't know any of that already." Hellen muttered.

"Believe it or not, I didn't." Snart replied, glancing at Mick before motioning for him to leave the room. They started heading out, leaving Hellen to her own devices. Before they headed out the door, Snart looked back at the girl, who had her back to them, thinking (as he always did) about what was going to happen next. But was this really something that he could plan for? He'd have to do some research into Lillian Finch, find out how she supposedly die, see if there was any chance she was still alive. He knew of James Finch – who didn't? – and his daughter didn't look anything like him. Which left one other possibility of who this mystery woman giving him orders was, though that possibility was highly unlikely.

"If you need anything, just ask." He said before closing the door behind him. Hellen snorted, wiping the tears from her cheek after she heard the door slam shut.

"Yeah. Whatever." She muttered.

* * *

Snart looked up from drumming his fingers on the armrest of his seat as his employer slipped into the room, once again seeming to keep the shadows wrapped around her like a blanket or a cloak. He was starting to wonder whether she was a metahuman, able to control the shadows. How else would she be able to do what she did?

"Have you got it, Mr. Snart?" The way she said it made it sound like she already knew the answer.

"We have the girl, but there has been a... complication."

"Come now, I dislike those. Surely you can find a way to remove it?"

"It's not as simple as that. The crystal went into her arms, she has the scars to prove it. However," Snart stood up and walked over to the mystery woman, "She claims that doctors couldn't find anything in her arms. Care to explain that to me?" He asked. A smile flitted across her face.

"It is a simple matter, really Mr. Snart. Simple biology and chemistry. The crystal wasn't exactly a crystal. I had hoped to study it before this happened, but it would seem I lost that window of opportunity."

"That isn't explaining." Snart sneered.

"These matters do not concern you."

"They started concerning me when you hired me and Mick to get the crystal for you. Now what was it?" He asked again, more forcefully this time.

"Something that you would not understand, something that I cannot explain. If I even tried to, even starting thinking about it, I would be breaking more rules in one word than you could in your entire lifetime." Something in her voice cracked slightly when she said those last words. In your entire lifetime. Snart frowned, glaring down at her.

"Who are you?" He asked. She refused to look at him.

"All shall be revealed, Mr. Snart."

"No. I am sick of playing your games. You are going to answer my questions. Are you Lillian Finch?" His voice grew louder as he continued, more anger filling it. For a moment the woman didn't answer.

"If I could tell you, then I would. But telling you would destroy more than you could realise. Some day you will understand this."

"That's not answering my question."

"If you wanted to threaten me, then you should have grabbed your cold gun," She snapped, turning her back on him and heading back towards the door, "Return the girl to her dad. The pieces are falling into place, and soon our... arrangement... will come to a close." Snart wanted nothing more than to wring her neck, but he knew that if she wanted to, she could destroy him with less than that. There was something about her that didn't add up, and it wasn't just how she avoided answering every question he threw at her. That part made sense. If you don't want someone knowing who you are, then you don't answer their questions. Unless they are accusing you of being someone who is reportedly dead. And there was no way that this woman could be Lillian Finch. Or at least, that was what every report said. But from what Snart had seen of this woman's face... her being Lillian Finch was the only thing that made the remotest bit of sense. Every other possibility was flawed, illogical... not to mention impossible. He lashed out, fury overwhelming him. He had gotten no answers, and now he was being told to release the girl. After all that effort, now he was told to hand her back. Somewhere in the deepest regions of his brain he pondered sending a gift basket with her with a little note:

Sorry about kidnapping your daughter, Dr. Finch, some crazy woman who is possibly your wife told me to.

Yes, because that would go down sooo well with everybody. Snart scowled. What was this mess that he had somehow managed to get into?


	10. Chapter 10

Someone came up behind Barry in the dark gloom of the forest they had arranged a meeting for. Slowly he turned around, though he didn't really need to guess who his company was. Snart was almost glaring at him.

"Looks like someone's been having a bad day." He said. Snart didn't look impressed.

"What do you want, Flash? I'm not in the mood for games."

"Are you alone?"

"Just like you asked."

"Where's Hellen Finch?"

"Safe. She's probably being returned to her dad as we speak." Barry frowned, confused.

"Why would you take her if you were just going to release her a few hours later?" That actually drew a smile from Snart and he shook his head.

"That's exactly what I've been wondering."

"You're the one making the plans." Barry pointed out. He was so certain of it, Snart never worked for someone. It just didn't happen. On occasion he worked with someone, not just Mick, but he never worked for someone. Snart didn't say anything. Barry hadn't expected him to, Snart didn't like revealing anything. But this time was different. He actually looked like he was thinking about something, not just the usual plotting of his next heist. He stepped forward, retrieving a piece of paper from his pocket.

"Normally I wouldn't ask this, but I need info." Snart muttered.

"What info?" Barry's curiosity was getting the better of him, and he knew it. So did Snart. He held out the piece of paper and cautiously Barry took it, straightening it out to look through the sketch of a woman.

"I need info on Lillian Finch. Specifically if there is any chance she's still alive."

"Why?"

"Getting the info and I'll tell you. Do we have a deal?" Snart asked, watching Barry closely. For a moment neither of them moved a as Barry contemplated it. He nodded.

"OK." Maybe there was a connection between Wind Lance and the Finch's, and maybe this could make way to a lead. It was worth a shot, even if it was wild and in the dark. Snart turned and walked away, hands in his pockets.

"You promise that Hellen is OK?"

"She's perfectly fine. Ask her yourself." He called back before vanishing into the gloom.

* * *

There was a knock at the door and Dr. Finch went to get it, on the defensive in case it was someone else coming to hurt him or his daughter, who was currently lying on the couch with a cup of coffee and a book. He only opened the door far enough to see who it was, opening it further when he recognised the man as Detective West.

"Sorry to call in so late." He apologised. James shook his head.

"No, not at all. Come in. Hellen's in the lounge." Detective West nodded and walked in, followed by the CSI Agent, then James closed the door and headed into the lounge. He wasn't about to leave his daughter alone, he knew how much she hated talking to people she didn't know. After the accident it had taken her months to talk to him again, and she knew him pretty damn well.

"Miss Finch, I believe you know Barry here." Detective West said. Hellen looked up from her book and nodded, placing a bookmark in to mark her page, and sat up. By the way she sat, James could tell she was readying to run if she thought she had to. Or she was waiting for the perfect opportunity to politely escape and hide in her room.

"It's OK, Hell. Detective West only wants to ask you a few questions, try and figure out why you were taken." He soothed. Hellen didn't even look at him, never taking her eyes off the detective or his colleague.

"They didn't want anything." She said. Detective West frowned.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because they let me go." She was tense, her words forced, guarded. It was like when the police were talking to her after the accident all over again. The CSI Agent – Barry – was frowning, but didn't seem very surprised by the news.

"Then why did they take you?" He asked. Hellen scowled.

"I'm not a psychic." She muttered. That was something no one was expecting. James had known Hellen to be guarded, but never like this. She had always been defensive in her guarding, never offensive.

"Miss Finch, we're only trying to help." Detective West tried to explain, but Hellen didn't seem to understand, either that or she didn't want help. She didn't respond.

"Look, Detective West. They took me, yes, but then they let me go after only a few hours. What does that say to you?" She asked after a while. James frowned, looking at the detective, who had a notepad and pen out. He looked slightly surprised at being asked that. Hellen took her chance, James could tell that now she had some ground she wasn't about to lose it.

"They did nothing toe permanently hurt me, they didn't ransom me, they didn't want anything from me... what part of this scenario is making any form of sense?"

"Ah..."

"Precisely. It was a freak incident. They took me for the sake of doing something different." Her hands were shaking. James frowned when he noticed it. The brave face she was putting on was just an act. She was never like this, and now it was taking a toll.

"Hellen - °

"If you don't mind, Dad, I think I handle this on my own." She looked over at him, her pale green eyes flashing dangerously. This was something James had experienced only a few times before – and only when he had gotten far too drunk for his own good. He backed down, at least temporarily, and headed into the kitchen. When Hellen was sure he was gone, she looked back at Detective West.

"Look, I wasn't entirely truthful," She muttered, quietly so her dad couldn't hear, "There is something that might mean something." Barry and Detective West frowned, sharing a look.

"OK?"

"Everyone thinks that it was the Flash that got me out of the building. Well, that's not entirely true." She was doing this to test a suspicion, but neither Detective West nor Barry realised it. Hellen wasn't good with people, true, but she could still read them... to a certain extent. They needed to be pretty good actors to fool her. She found there was something slightly off in the way that Detective West and Mr. Allen responded.

"What do you mean?" It wasn't their voice that was off... Hellen couldn't quite place her finger on it. The answer was right there, in front of her, and she couldn't seem to actually find a reason behind it. Everything she had noticed seemed to point to one answer, but that answer made no sense. Perhaps it was time to do some proper research into things...

"I was trapped, my legs pinned. Something exploded and cut my arms, though the doctors don't know what. Nothing was found, supposedly, though I doubt Dad would have let them show me or tell me if anything was removed. Anyway, there was no chance that the Flash could have lifted what was trapping me, not even for half a second. He couldn't have gotten me out of the position I was in. Not on his own."

"I think you lost me..." Detective West muttered. Hellen shook her head.

"It was Snart and Mick who got me out of there. Or at least part of the way out of there. Then the Flash took over."

"Did they have anything to do with starting the fire?" Detective West sounded almost... hopeful. Hellen scowled slightly.

"No. I can honestly say they didn't. They're not like that. Besides, it was an explosion. Mick wouldn't have set the building to blow. He would've just used his... whatever you call it." Barry smiled slightly and Hellen knew that he agreed with her.

"So what we're they doing there?" Million dollar question. Hellen sighed.

"They wanted whatever it was that hurt my arms."

"Why?" This wasn't something that Hellen wanted to answer, so she shrugged. Impeding a police investigation was a crime, but right at that moment she didn't care.

"They're a couple of crooks, how should I know what goes through their heads?" There was a pause and Barry frowned.

"How did your mum die?" Hellen looked at him, feeling on edge. Why would he be asking about her mum? Detective West looked just as confused.

"Car crash. It was all over the News."

"Is there any chance that she somehow survived?"

"If there was, you think I'd still be here? You think any of this would have happened? Dad wouldn't be such a broken mess, I wouldn't have dropped my course, I wouldn't have these bloody scars all up my arm. If Mum was still alive then she would be here." She tugged at her shirt sleeves, shifting uncomfortably. What was the reason behind Barry asking about her mum? It made no sense at all. Unless it made perfect sense... but that thought was ridiculous. Surely if he was who Hellen suspected him to be someone else would have noticed? Like Detective West? Unless someone had figured it out and they were in on it? No, no conspiracy theories. Not when they were so ridiculous and completely... illogical. But she had to know.

"Why? What has my mum got to do with anything?"

"Just a possible lead we got. Anonymous tip off."

"Huh... OK?" Why would anyone bring up her mum in an anonymous tip off? Unless it wasn't an anonymous tip off after all. The only person she knew of who knew that there was a possibility her mum was alive was Snart... well, Snart and Mick. There were a couple of rumours that Snart knew the Flash. If Barry was the Flash, then so many of her questions were answered. But it was all just a theory, she had no proof. And part of her didn't want proof.

"Um, so ah... are we done here? It's kinda been a big day for me, so..." Detective West stood up and tucked his notepad away.

"You get some rest. We'll be in touch if anything else comes up or we get any more questions."

"Yep. Feel free to." Hellen smiled and shook their hands, on edge again. She didn't feel so good, like she was too cold or something. Either too cold or too warm. She couldn't tell. Why did this keep happening at the most random times? James watched from the doorway to the kitchen. Chances were that he had been listening for a little while, but Hellen didn't think so. He stepped forward and showed his guests to the door.

"I'm sorry if she wasn't much help. I hope you find these bastards." He said. Detective West turned and looked at James.

"One last question. Did your wife have any family? Sisters?" He asked. James shook his head.

"No. Only a brother. Think he's some sort of police guy in Stark City. Quentin Lance, I think. Never really got along with the guy. Caused a few arguments between Lillian and him." Detective West and Barry looked at each other, mild surprise on their faces.

"Captain Lance was your wife's brother?"

"Yeah. After she married me they stopped talking all that much. After Lillian died I reached out, asked them to look after Hellen for a bit. I just couldn't after it happened." There was sadness in his voice, regret.

"Well, thank you for telling us. And I know that it happened a while ago, but I'm sorry for your loss." Detective West said. James nodded.

"Thank you. I hope that I've been of some help." He watched as Detective West and Mr. Allen walked away, then closed the door. Slowly he headed back to the living room, thinking. He was going to ask Hellen a question, but she was gone. Probably hiding away in her bedroom again.

* * *

 **Author's note: So, there are a few ties to other DC things (in the long run if I continue this fanfic as a series it'll continue into Legends of Tomorrow), but at this point in time I don't think that the Lances and the Arrow/Green Arrow and the rest of that team will come into this fanfic, chances are they'llc only be mentioned. But who knows how it'll go? :)**


	11. Chapter 11

The anger kept rising up inside her and she couldn't stop it, couldn't even begin to understand it. She stared down at the picture of her mother, sitting in her lap. The woman was on a beach, her sunglasses on top of her head, a smile on her face, her dark hair tucked behind one of her ears, pulled over one shoulder. She looked so happy. And now she was dead – or she was supposed to be. If she was still alive, like Snart seemed to believe, then she had spent the last five years pretending to be dead when she was perfectly alive. Hellen stood up, half throwing the picture to the ground, the satisfying sound of glass smashing filling the room. She was wrong. She did know why sheet was angry. If her mum was still alive, then she had no right to have pretended for years to be dead, and why the hell would she have anything to do with Mick Rory and Leonard Snart? Only one answer came to mind. Lillian was a criminal, and had been for at east five years. But Hellen could remember burying her mum... how could that have been faked? There were so many questions, every time Hellen answered one, another came up. She shifted her shoulders uncomfortably, frowning. Pain shot through her body, her skin itched painfully, hands felt like they were twisting wrongly, her thumb shifting around to the underside of her wrist, her fingers spreading out slightly, fingernails being pushed out and something else taking their place. Hellen cried out in pain, tears slipping out onto her face for a split second before vanishing. There was a banging on the door a few seconds later.

"Hellen? What's going on? You alright?" Her dad's voice asked, the handle rattling – but the door was locked. Hellen watched in horror as her skin erupted with scales, black, edged in gold, sharp, painful. Her hands resembled those that belonged more on a lizard than a human. Her hair fell over her shoulders and what she could see wasn't dark anymore – it was fire orange. The final part of the transformation was her back exploding open, making her almost scream from pain (as it was it sounded like someone was being murdered). As soon as it was done, Hellen stumbled backwards, having difficulty keeping her balance. She twisted and turned, trying to look at her back, knocking over her lamp in the attempt. The knocking on her door intensified, her dad sounding more and more worried. Hellen froze, taking deep breath, and took off her shirt, standing in her bra looking at herself in the mirror. She was covered in scales from her head to her toes, her hair having the consistency and colour of flame, but falling in waterfalls around her shoulders. On her back was a pair of black, leathery wings, like what she imagined would be on dragons. That was pretty much what she was. A humanoid dragon. She felt sick. She knew what she was, and she knew how people felt about people like her. Fear. Terror. The only metahuman who anyone liked was the Flash, and now Hellen was one. A metahuman. How? She'd been out of the city when the particle accelerator exploded, she showed no signs of being one of them. A thought slipped into her mind.

The crystal.

The doctors hadn't found anything.

They'd been mystified by what caused the scars.

Now Hellen knew where the crystal had gone. It was indeed still inside her. Just now it ran through her veins, it changed her, became part of her. Something had triggered the change though. Everything she got angry she had seen red. Was anger the trigger? Or was it simply a trigger?

"Hellen!" Her dad kept banging on the door. Hellen frowned. Would her voice still be the same? Why would it change?

"I... I'm OK." She called out, not sounding very convincing.

"Open the door." Her dad replied.

"No." She couldn't let him see. Not with her in this state.

"Hellen, open this door, right now, or I will open it for you." He would too, Hellen knew that. James would probably go and get a baseball bat or something like that and beat the door in if he could. But she didn't know how to change back. She made her way over to her chest of draws and opened the middle one, pulling out a shirt with low back – more comfortable for wearing with wings – and slipped it on before making her way over to her window. Throwing it open, she looked down at the ground. Considering that their apartment was not on the ground floor, this was not a fun idea she was toying with in her mind. Slowly she took a deep breath, then climbed out onto the windowsill, turning around and looking up. Which would be better, ground or the roof? She didn't want anyone to see her, and it was only just starting to even think about getting gloomy, so she chose to go up. Either way she was probably going to be seen by a few people, she wasn't exactly a very inconspicuous metahuman, being completely covered in black and gold scales and having demonic – like wings sprouting from her back. As she climbed she idly wondered if they would work, and how she could actually use them. Being taught how to fly with wings wasn't exactly standard in schools anywhere. Humans didn't normally have wings. Would Hellen simply know how to use them – like instinct? Her hand slipped and she ended up dangling by one arm, crying out in shock.

"Not good, this is very not good!" She muttered, feeling her other hand slipping as well. She struggled to grab on again with her other hand, but PE was never one of her best subjects. She was a geek and a nerd, not a sports woman. Somehow she managed it and continued climbing, making her way (increasing in speed as she went) to the roof. From there she looked over the city, hair being pulled at by the wind. She looked around at her wings, shifting her shoulders slightly. After a moment her wings opened, spreading out either side of her, and she experimentally flapped them a couple of times. She wasn't sure how she felt about having wings, but on at least one level it was cool.

"I was wondering how long until you'd find out." Someone said from behind her. Hellen turned around and spotted someone standing not too far behind her.

"Who... who are you?" She asked, clenching her fist. The person shrugged.

"That's a little complicated. But you... you know that we'll enough, don't you?" They stepped forward and Hellen frowned, easily identifying the stranger as a woman. Long, dark hair, pulled away from the face, so the eyes should have been visible. But they weren't. They were hidden, somehow. Like they were almost too visible, and yet they weren't visible at all.

"What d'you mean? I don't... I don't understand."

"It's all very simple really. But unfortunately I can't explain it to you because of a bunch of rules which prevent me from ruining the – oops. Almost said too much. You see, this is why I hate this time period. Too dangerous for me to be in. Well... yeah. Like I said, wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff." Hellen frowned, clenching her hands into fists.

"Are you insane?"

"That matter is open to debate. Several of my friends have come to that conclusion, but the jury's still out. Now, you tell me... who are you?"

"The way you're talking to me, you already know. How?"

"That doesn't matter. What matters is that you don't know who you are. You're lost, confused, have been experiencing strange bursts of anger for no apparent reason. You see the red, you lose control. But this is the first time you have changed. You don't understand what is happening to you, think that the woman Snart has a picture of was your mum, don't know who you can trust, wonder if you can even trust yourself. Oh, and now you're worried that you won't be able to become a normal human again. Through all this, you have lost the knowledge of who you are. Which is why you have to tell me... who are you?" Hellen stood side on to the stranger, worried, slightly afraid, confused about what was going on. How had she known all that? The stranger smiled, one that hid the way she was really feeling. Hellen slowly stepped forward, not sure what she was doing.

"Why the hell would you say all that about me? Why would I be feeling that way?"

"Oh, trust me. I just know these things."

"I think that's a pretty good reason to not trust you."

"Ha! You already sound like him. Look, trust me on this. You need to trust someone. Anyone. Or you'll get even more hurt." The woman turned around and Hellen raced forwards, faster than she thought she could, grabbing the woman and spinning her around so Hellen could see her face. The first thing she noticed was the eyes, and that was enough to make her let the woman go. Pale green. Like hers.

"Mum?" She asked. The woman wasn't sure whether to scowl or laugh, so she did something in between.

"See you round, kid." She said before slipping away and somehow seeming to vanish from right in front of Hellen, leaving her standing stupefied, staring at where she had been before.

* * *

Joe walked into S.T.A.R Labs, all business. Barry looked at him, slightly worried. The older man wasn't usually quite that business-like unless something was wrong.

"We got another metahuman. You're gonna hate where."

"Why?"

"It's on top of the apartments that the Finch's stay in." Barry's shoulders visibly slumped.

"You're joking?"

"Which I was. Might need the Flash on this one. Haven't seen this metahuman before, no clue who they are."

"What do they look like?" Cisco asked, trying to get a visual on his screen through hacking into cameras around the apartments. Joe shrugged.

"They're on the roof. No one's gotten a proper look. But some reports say they saw the meta talking to someone else."

"Why'd this come up on our radar?" Barry asked, "Has the meta done something bad or... what?"

"The location, the timing... There's a chance that this meta is working with Wind Lance and the mystery meta – or is the mystery meta." Joe shrugged. Cisco zoomed in, focusing the camera on the meta.

"They look kinda cool... in a weird way." He said, motioning for Barry to get a look. From head to foot, the meta was covered in scales, hair almost like flame, wings sprouting from its back. And 'it' was actually a she, golden eyes alert and looking around.

"Can we get facial rec on identifying her?" Barry asked. Cisco turned in his chair, giving Barry the look.

"Dude, I know how to do my job. It's already running. If we get a hit, I'll let you know. Now get going. If this meta is after the Finch's then you'd better stop them."

"Yeah. Thanks, Cisco." Barry sped over to his suit and got changed within seconds, sprinting over to the building. He arrived maybe ten seconds later – tops. The meta turned and looked at him, but didn't seem like she wanted to attack. Instead she just looked... lost. In the background, sirens were blaring, echoing around the two.

"What do you want?" The meta asked, her voice rough, yet almost soft, warm... the first thing coming to Barry's mind was flame, the way it crackled, but at the same time it just seemed so much kinder than that, almost familiar in some ways. Full of pain. Like something had just happened.

"I was going to ask you the same thing."

"I want to be left alone. That too much to ask? First her, then you. This isn't really my day, is it?"

"Apparently not. Maybe you should have chosen a different roof to stand on. You triggered a few alerts."

"And why's that?" The meta growled, crossing her arms.

"The newbie has a few things to learn, doesn't she?" Another voice asked, stepping forward out of seemingly thin air. Both Barry and the scaled meta looked around, then shared a look. Wind Lance.

"Give her a break, Pierce. We want to talk to her, not terrify her." Another stranger appeared, growing from a pile of goo... suddenly why the substance Barry had found at the scene of Tobias Jones' murder. Shape changer. He hated them. The scaled meta frowned, fire surrounding her fists.

"Such power... truly impressive." The goo-man smiled, making the scowl grow deeper on the scaled meta's face. She glanced down at her hand and looked like she was about other jump back, shaking her hand as though to put the fire out. It didn't work.

"She can't control it. She's useless." Wind Lance muttered.

"I seem to remember you not being able to control your powers either," The goo-man spat at his comrade, "It's not an easy task, and fire is probably a harder element to control. No offence meant, of course."

"Who are you?" Barry asked the second new meta he had encountered. The goo-man looked at him, surprised at being addressed by the Flash.

"What does it matter?"

"Boogey-man. First thing that comes to mind." The scaled-meta muttered.

"I like that! Wait... no! It's my job to name them." Cisco said into the comms, sounding rather indignantly. Barry shook his head.

"What do you want?"

"To talk to your friend here."

"Hey, no. He isn't my friend. I don't even know him." The girl looked rather annoyed, holding her hands up higher, as though readying to throw her fire.

"Ha! She has a rather... hot... temper, wouldn't you say, sir?" Wind Lance joked.

"That's dreadful. Suits your name perfectly, though. Pierce through, wind lance. Seriously? Referencing Milla Maxwell, much?"

"Barry, ask her if that's from a game!" Cisco piped up.

"Maybe now isn't the best time to ask her that," Barry muttered, earning a strange look from the scaled meta, "Don't worry about it." He replied to her questioning look.

"OK..." She turned and looked back at Wind Lance and the newly named Boogey-Man, "Why do you want to talk to me?"

"To recruit you. Having someone with your talents could prove mutually beneficial."

"You burnt Finch Labs to the ground, killing several people. Chances are that you were killing people even before that," Barry looked at her in surprise, "I don't kill. Never have, and never will unless it is completely necessary. Sorry, but I have to politely decline your offer." Her wings spread out and Barry could see what she was about to do. He wasn't too sure either was a good idea.

"Wait –" But, ironically, he wasn't fast enough. The girl launched herself into the air, straight towards Wind Lance, releasing a stream of fire at him. He growled in pain, holding up his hands to protect his face as Boogey-Man returned into a thick, gooey pulp, forming a shield around his comrade. Barry started running around them both, preventing the fire from touching them. Soon as he noticed the flames stop coming, he stopped running.

"Why would you do that?!" The scaled meta demanded.

"You said you wouldn't kill people unless you had to." He replied.

"Never said I wouldn't seriously maim them," Came the growled reply, "I'll see you around Flash. Just so you know, they're getting away." When Barry turned around, the meta flew off, and indeed, Wind Lance and Boogey-Man were gone. Barry sighed.

"This just isn't my day." He mumbled.


	12. Chapter 12

Hellen fell against the wall of the abandoned warehouse. How could birds land so easily? He body hurt all over and she felt like screaming as the scales on her body retracted, leaving her skin raw and pink, her wings painfully folding in, almost as though their bones were breaking and then dissolving, her fingers once again twisting into the correct positions. Tears fell down her face and she sobbed, pulling her legs up to her chin.

"This isn't me… this isn't me…" She cried, the scales seeming to shimmer up and down her arms as she lost control. She wanted to change back into a normal girl, but it would seem that her emotions held some kind of key to her powers. Somewhere behind her a door opened and she scrambled up, searching for somewhere to hide.

"It's hard, isn't it?" Someone asked - the woman, her mum. Hellen looked at her, and angrily wiped at the tears on her cheek.

"What are you talking about? What do you want?"

"What do I want? To go home. But I can't do that, not until my job is done. And I'm breaking about a hundred different rules simply talking to you right now. And I'm talking about your gift. It's hard to control them, hard to understand them."

"Gift? You call this a gift?" Hellen held up her arm, the scales still growing and retreating again, "How the hell is this a gift?"

"Someday you'll understand."

"I don't want to understand! I want them gone!" She screamed, flame exploding from around her, making her yelp in fear. She collapsed to the ground and curled up in a small ball, trying to get her emotions under control.

"That won't help, you know," The woman said, almost conversationally, "You fear your powers, but that only makes it harder."

"Like you know anything about this."

"I know more than you realise. And trust me. The only way you're going to learn to control this is if you accept it."

"I just want them gone."

"Mmm, I know. It's normal for people like us to not want their gifts, to want them gone. Completely normal. But there is nothing that can remove them. Well, aside from going back in time and changing things, but that could have catastrophic consequences. Damn, wasn't meant to say that." Hellen peered around at the woman, confused. She was certain that the woman was her mum, but there was something wrong - aside from the fact that her mum couldn't be alive, she'd been buried. Was there really any way that this woman could be her mum? They certainly looked enough alike to be related.

"Who are you?" She asked, her voice still shaking. The woman looked at her.

"I'm not actually allowed to tell you that. Look, all you need to know is that I'm not the bad guy here. Focus your search on Wind Lance and his friend. You'll get all the answers you need." And then the woman vanished again, same as she had earlier. Hellen watched the space for a moment longer, then looked back at the wall, trying to gain control over her body again. The realisation sank in that she wasn't human anymore. She was a monster.

* * *

Barry ran a hand down his face, exhausted. He'd been running the sketch Snart had given him through every database and it was pretty much all coming up the same. The sketch was of Lillian Finch. But he had talked to the doctor who had tried to save her life, who had made the call that she was dead, who had signed the death certificate. There was no way that Lillian Finch could still be alive. Severe head trauma, a punctured lung, broken spine, multiple cuts and bruises, and, of course, loads of internal bleeding. It would have been a miracle if she had survived. If Lillian Finch had all that happen to her, it was amazing that Hellen had gotten out with only a couple of broken bones and being unconscious for a couple of days. As for the boy, Korry, he'd been in a coma for days after the accident, stuck on life support, completely brain dead. He eventually died in a random cardiac arrest which no one had seen coming. So mother and son had been buried next to each other, and Dr. Finch and Hellen had been forced to say goodbye to the both of them in one swoop.

"Still chasing that lead?" Joe asked as he stepped into Barry's messy office.

"It makes no sense. Why would Snart have given me this picture?"

"To distract you?"

"He seemed genuinely confused about who this woman was, though. But there is no possible way for her to be Lillian Finch, but that's the only person it keeps coming up as."

"Could be Hellen." Joe suggested, shrugging. Barry looked at him, thinking for a moment, then shook his head.

"This woman looks like she's in her forties at least, definitely too old to be late teens early twenties. I was thinking it could be someone who'd had surgery to make herself look like Lillian Finch, but… I dunno. We had any luck with Boogey-Man?"

"Turns out his name is Richard Clark." Joe said, his eyes betraying the triumph he was feeling.

"And?"

"He's an old friend of Dr. Finch's."

"How do they know each other?"

"Clark is actually the ex fiancée of Dr. Finch's sister, Julia, who eloped with another man and hasn't been heard of since. There are some rumours that she and Dr. Finch had a bit of an argument over Clark, Dr. Finch saying that his sister was too good for the guy. There are other theories that Julia actually got killed, but considering she was simply labelled as a missing person and there was nothing to prove that theory, it's been left alone."

"This family is seeming more and more messed up."

"You're telling me."

"Do we know where Clark might be?" Barry was actually starting to feel like they were making some headway, and it showed. The smile that crept onto Joe's face said it all and Barry nodded, standing up (knocking over his coffee mug, which he quickly caught) and headed for the door.

"Send Cisco the address and I'll meet you there." He called as he ran from the room. Joe shook his head. Sometimes Barry could get a little over excited.

* * *

"Are you sure this is the place?" Barry asked, now dressed in his Flash costume.

"It's the address we were given." Joe confirmed, checking his information over one last time. They were stood in front of an old abandoned warehouse, not exactly somewhere it looked like someone would want to actually set up camp - though more than a few criminals had hideouts in similar locations. Barry sighed and started moving forward, heading toward the tumble down old building.

"Why would they be here?" He asked.

"Ask them when you get the chance. Frankly I'm more worried about getting them off the street." Together the two pushed open one of the doors and headed in, Joe holding his gun out in front of him, ready to fire. Naturally, this was the moment that Barry's cell chose to ring. He fumbled around for it, though considering he was in his Flash suit it was strange that he had his cell on him in the first place, so he was getting a bit of a weird look from Joe.

"Hello?"

 _"Um, hi… is this Barry Allen?"_ A voice asked.

"Yes."

 _"I'm Daniel. You met me at the hospital when you wanted to talk to Hellen."_

"Yes! Yes, Daniel. What's up? How'd you get my number?" He was confused, and obviously so. He'd never really talked to Daniel before, and now the guy was phoning him?

 _"Your friend Cisco gave it to me. It's urgent, else I wouldn't be phoning. There's been a problem with Hellen and I didn't know who to tell."_ Barry looked at Joe, holding his phone out and hitting the speaker button.

"What's going on with Hellen?" He asked.

 _"She just phoned me and she just sounded… wrong. She was upset, and I couldn't properly understand her, then her dad phone me just after that asking if I knew where she was. Said that she'd just climbed out her bedroom window or something, which she'd never do."_ Joe and Barry shared a look.

"Do you know where she could be?"

 _"I've looked in her normal places. The waterfront, libraries, music shops, even computer stores. I'm on my way to her mum and brother's graves now, but somehow I doubt she's going to be there."_

"I'm Detective West," Joe said, joining the conversation, "Do you have any clue what might have set her off?"

 _"No. But she sounded like she was in pain and kept talking about her mum."_

"Her mum's dead though, isn't she?" Barry asked, knowing the answer but trying to get some more knowledge on the woman all the same. Anything to help with the investigation, and Daniel seemed more than willing to tell them things. By the tone of his voice, he just wanted his friend back. Again. Considering how often she'd been going missing, he was bound to be getting used to her disappearances by now.

 _"Yeah, and despite the rumours going round, there is no chance in hell that she's still alive. If she was, then Hellen would have learned about it way before now. They were as thick as thieves, those two. There's no way that Mrs. Finch would still be alive and Hellen not know about it."_

"Thanks, Daniel." Barry muttered, the line going dead. He looked at Joe and sighed, thinking.

"This just keeps getting weirder and weirder." Joe muttered.

"Every time we get some headway, something else happens and we lose it again." Just then a pipe fell over, the noise ringing through the empty warehouse. The two men looked at each other, then Barry zoomed off, searching around the place as fast as he could, hoping that whatever caused the noise hadn't heard the conversation. While he ran, he thought. Hellen - missing. New meta. Coincidence? Chances were, no. But the personality had completely changed. Weirder things had happened. It made sense that Hellen had become a metahuman, considering the crystal that had imbedded itself in her arms. He skidded to a halt as he spotted the new meta.

"Hellen?" He asked, deciding to take the risk, making the gamble that it was actually Hellen Finch. She frowned at him, taking a step backwards further into the shadow, not wanting him to approach her.

"Stay away from me." She whispered.

"It's OK. I don't want to hurt you, I want to help you." She laughed, shaking her head.

"Help me? You can't help me! Don't you see that? I'm a monster, and there is no helping a monster. No matter how much you want it, a leopard can't change its spots. Face it, Flash. There is. No. Helping me." He couldn't see her, the way she hung back in the shadows like that. She didn't want to be seen clearly, so he couldn't make out the extent of her condition, couldn't see what she was. In the gloom of the warehouse he could make out that her back wasn't normal anymore, but that was about it.

"I can't help you if I don't try. Just let me try." The Flash said, trying to calm the girl down. She just laughed.

"That is exactly why heroes have such hardships. Why they are always so... so... so hurt. Because they can't face the fact that they can't save everyone. Like you didn't save me. And you just can't let the go, can you?" He frowned. What was she talking about? When did he fail to save her? He hesitated. Usually for a speedster like him, hesitating wasn't a problem. But in this case, things didn't work out so simply. Her back opened up.

"No!" He yelled, but then the leathery sound of wings filled the room and she was gone, clinging to the roof, and then glass shattered, sprinkling to the ground with a harsh, ringing sound. He ran. It was what he was best at. But he couldn't find her once she was outside. He couldn't run through air, and in the dark night outside, there was no chance of being able to find her. Not like this. He stopped and looked back as Joe came running to meet him.

"You alright, Bear?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Think we might have just found Hellen Finch."

"She's the new meta?" Barry shrugged.

"I dunno. Didn't get a good enough look at her. But it makes sense."

"Well, at least we got one answer reasonably quickly."

* * *

It was well and truly past midnight when Hellen eventually managed to regain control over her body and sneak back into her home, by passing the living room and heading into her bedroom, finding the window shut and the heater on. She sat down on her bed, holding her arms close to her chest. The woman's words kept swimming around in her head. Someone to trust. That was easier said than done. There was one person who she trusted, and he went and phoned Barry, who it was now confirmed was the Flash. Daniel was a good guy, he was just trying to look out for her, but she wanted him to find her, not send someone else to look for her. That backfired a little. There was a knock on her door and she looked up, seeing her dad standing in her doorway.

"You good?" He asked.

"I'm fine." She replied, shifting over so he could sit on the bed next to her.

"Where were you? I was worried."

"You didn't have to be. I just needed some time alone, I was always going to come back. I'm not Mum, I'll always come back." Her dad frowned.

"You know your mum wouldn't have died if she had the choice. She loved you, and I'm sure that wherever she is now, she still loves you, watches over you."

"I'm not." Hellen mumbled, grabbing a jersey up off the floor and sliding it over her head. James put one arm around her and pulled her towards him, leaning his head on hers, quietly stroking her hair.

"That's OK. I'll be sure for the both of us." He muttered. Hellen bit her bottom lip, struggling not to let the tears fall onto her cheeks. It had been years since her mum had supposedly died. There was no reason for her to still be crying over it. Where was the point in wasting tears over someone who didn't care anymore?

"Dad, what was in the crystal in your lab?" She asked quietly, and James frowned.

"There was no crystal." He replied. Hellen pulled away and looked him in the eye, confused.

"Yes, there was. That's what gave me the scars." She replied. He shook his head.

"Honey, it's been a long day. I can promise you, there was no crystal in my lab. If you want we can talk this over in the morning. For now, you need to get some rest. OK?" He planted a gentle kiss on her head then left the room, "Good night, Hellen." He said, closing the door behind him. Hellen shook her head, looking down at the picture which she had thrown to the ground before she had changed, picking it up off the ground. Now she was more calm, she could look at the picture better, with a more critical eye. Lillian Finch had a slightly rounder face than her daughter, and Hellen was beginning to realise that the mystery woman's face wasn't round enough to be her mum. There were only small differences, but enough for her to confirm that the woman probably wasn't her mum. Did Lillian have a secret twin that no one knew about? It'd explain about. But perhaps this was all just a dream and in truth she was still unconscious after the explosion of Finch Labs. Or after the accident that felt like it was five years ago, and it was actually only months later. Hellen snorted. Since when was she lucky enough for that to be true?


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note: Hey guys! Sorry it's a bit shorter than usual. I'll admit, I've been hitting a bit of writer's block - which sucks. I know what I want to happen, just don't know how to get there. I will work on it, and fast. Happy reading :)**

* * *

Snart didn't look overly impressed, tapping on the top of the workbench he stood next to, watching the woman closely. Suddenly he stopped and took a deep breath, placing his hand on top of his cold gun.

"Give me three good reasons why I should find her again." He said.

"One, you don't have to find her. I know where to send you and at what time. Two, she's more important than you think. And three, who doesn't want a metahuman working with them?" The woman shrugged, glancing down at Rory, who was watching her quite closely. She shook her head and looked back at Snart. He thought for a moment then took his hand off the cold gun, still watching the woman. There was definitely something she wasn't telling them, and he wanted to know what. But, knowing what little he did about her, she wasn't about to say.

"She needs help, Mr. Snart. Whether she'll admit to it or not. I know I have asked you several times to trust me, but it's important."

"So you keep saying. Why me?"

"I can't say."

"Why not?"

"There are rules that have to be followed, laws to be obeyed."

"I'm a criminal. I break laws." He muttered, stepping closer to her. Rory grabbed her hands and pinned them behind her back, twisting them painfully. The woman scowled.

"I know you're a criminal, a thief. But this is something that I'm not allowed to say, not if things are going to happen the way they are supposed to. I used to be like you, alright? I used to go out on heists, break laws, do whatever the hell I felt like. Unfortunately there are some things that are not allowed to be broken. That's all I'm allowed to say."

"How about telling someone who you are, are you allowed to do that?" Snart asked, standing over the woman. She looked up, meeting his eye, and threw Rory off her, seemingly without any difficulty. For a moment she just watched him, a distant look in her eye, then she stepped away from him, leaving the building.

"Meet me on the roof at 21:00 hours, if you still want your answers." She said. Snart and Rory looked at each other.

"You shoulda lost your temper ages ago." Rory said.

"Somehow I doubt that has anything to do with it." Snart replied.

* * *

The door opened and Daniel stepped into the house, looking slightly sheepish when he saw the look on his friend's face.

"What… did I do now?"

"I phoned you yesterday because I didn't want anyone looking for me, you do realise that, don't you?" Hellen demanded.

"Yeah, but we were all worried about you. Once you hung up, your dad phoned, and when I looked for you, you weren't in any of your normal places. Where were you?" He asked, not sure if he was more worried or annoyed at her for being so annoyed at him. She sighed, thinking. After a moment she motioned for him to follow her, heading to her bedroom.

"You have to promise not to tell anyone about this, you understand?" She said, closing the door behind them and glaring up at Daniel. After a moment he nodded, frowning slightly. Hellen sighed and after a moment, scales started sprouting from her arms and neck, eventually covering her whole body, wings bursting from her back. When she looked at Daniel again, her eyes were gold, not pale green. He stumbled backwards slightly.

"What?" He asked once he'd recovered from his shock. Slowly, Hellen returned to her normal state of being, sitting down on her bed.

"That's what I'd like to know." She muttered.

"How long have you been a meta for?" Daniel asked, sitting down next to her, though he was still a bit shaken, "Why didn't you tell me? What the hell is going on?"

"I only found out about all this yesterday, OK? I'm just as confused as you are, considering that I was nowhere near the particle accelerator explosion, which leaves only one possibility. And according to Dad, there were no crystals in his lab, which makes things even more confusing because it makes it seem more like this was set up," She sighed, "When did the world get so messed up?"

"When the particle accelerator exploded?" Daniel suggested, shrugging, "Either that or it always has been and we simply didn't realise it because we were too young." Hellen shook her head, then leaned it in Daniels shoulder, looking slightly tired. She wasn't too convinced about what he had said, thought that the moment everything had gotten so much more confusing was five years ago. After a moment Daniel placed an arm around her shoulder and gave it a light squeeze, trying to be reassuring, but both of them knew it wouldn't be helping much. For a while they just sat there, thinking their own thoughts, not saying anything. Then a small smile crept onto Daniel's face and he turned around to face Hellen.

"Well, you have the super power... you don't have the outfit yet, but we – or you – can work on it. But you still need a cool superhero name." He said and Hellen shook her head.

"I dunno. I was planning on just trying to control all this so I could try to lead a normal life."

"Come on, Hell! You've been given a gift... of sorts... why not use it? You can do good with it." He said, trying to convince her of what he was saying. Still she didn't look to sure, simply looking away and frowning. Idly she picked at a scale that had grown on her hand, more starting to sprout slowly around it, but she didn't seem to be losing control. It was more her just trying to think, and apparently it helped. Daniel looked thoughtful, then stood up and started looking around the room. Hellen watched him, wondering what he was doing, then he stopped in front of her guitar, looking at it. It was a steel string guitar, wood pattern, acoustic-electric. Pretty damn expensive, too. Perks of having a rich dad.

"What about having something to do with music in your name?"

"Ha, no. How would that fit? Music Dragon? Hell no." Hellen scoffed.

"Mmm... alright then. Do you know what you can do? I mean with your new abilities."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Far as I can tell, change shape, fly... summon fire... I don't really know if there's anything else I can do. It's not like I exactly enjoy turning into a freak of nature." Daniel shook his head.

"You're not a freak of nature. You're still Hellen Finch," He stopped for a moment, then smiled again, "Hell Fire. How about that?" He asked. Hellen frowned slightly, then shrugged.

"Not too bad. You have hope as a game designer yet." She joked, making Daniel shake his head. He never really wanted to be a game designer, but it was an ongoing joke. Though how that joke started, he couldn't for the life of him remember.

* * *

The strange woman stormed into the building she was staying in, furious, though unsure if she was annoyed with herself or Snart. After what she had seen... She lashed out at the nearest thing, utterly destroying the innocent light switch. No one had said this would be easy, in fact they'd all warned her it would be quite hard on her probably. Especially the captain. Considering what he went through, he'd know. Slowly she calmed down, sitting down on the couch and putting her head in her hands, leaning forwards. A part of her had known that Snart wouldn't trust her, after all, she knew things that no one should – or even could – know. And she knew that soon things would get even harder for Hellen. Wind Lance and Boogey-Man would be back, and soon. At about the same time as Snart and Rory would make their move to help the young woman. Sure, it wasn't the best way to do things, but that was how it had to be, the way things had to play out, unfortunately. If she could, she would have found a way to help Hellen. But she couldn't. Not more than she already was. The time was coming that all three teams would make a move for her, the time would come for her to make a decision, even if she didn't know the full impact that her choice would make. That choice still hung over her, weighed her down some days. It was something she couldn't let go of, so she carried it with her. Especially since she knew she couldn't do anything to change it, though she would have given anything to do so. Once she had finished calming down she went over to the room she was sleeping in and rummaged around in her pack, pulling out a picture that had been taken years ago. Well, for her. It was an old picture, torn around the edges, faded. She hadn't looked at it for a while, but she always had it with her. If anyone could see the picture, it would explain a lot. Who she was, where she was from, who her family is... her entire identity could be deduced from that one photo. And it was that photo which she was going to give to Snart, among other things. A pen drive was the other thing, containing information that he might need later on. Not that she should really give some of that information, and it did have a time release on it. Just to stop him from learning anything he shouldn't know before that time. After all, there were rules to be obeyed. And there was a point to these rules. She stood up and grabbed an envelope from nearby, placing the photo inside it before going to get the pen drive. Part of her simply wanted to tell Snart everything, but another part was dreading the meeting, and technically she wouldn't be telling him anything straight away. Which she knew he wouldn't be too pleased about.


	14. Chapter 14

Barry and Caitlin lounged around the main room, jokingly arguing about which one of Cisco's inventions was the most disastrous.

"Soon after he got hired he made this box thing that was supposed to help stabilise something, but instead ended up freezing the doors shut somehow." Caitlin laughed, making Barry shake his head, slightly disbelieving, but completely able to see Cisco doing something like that. He was a genius, but didn't seem to always think things through. Hence the cold gun.

"The cold gun was more disastrous. I mean, you lot had to go along and save me using the vacuum cleaner. That could have been so bad." Barry pointed out, and Caitlin nodded rather thoughtfully. Then she smiled.

"That was brilliant though. Just imagine how Snart would take it if he found out that we fooled him with a vacuum cleaner."

"Yeah... he wouldn't take it so good." Caitlin and Barry turned around as someone else entered the room, spotting Iris coming in. She didn't come as often as she might have, but that was expected. S.T.A.R Labs was where Eddie had died, so her not wanting to be around the place wasn't a great surprise. Barry smiled at her.

"Hey, Iris."

"Hey, Barry. We might have a problem." She said. Barry sighed, looking up at the ceiling as though it could make all these problems go away. As soon as it seemed like one problem was gone, another three showed up. Except for the question of... when was the last time they had a problem solved? He looked around at Iris.

"What's up?" He asked. She handed a note over to him without saying anything and Barry quickly read it before handing it over to Caitlin. As she read it, he watched Iris. She still looked tired. She pulled up a chair and sat down next to them, waiting for Caitlin to finish reading the note.

"Where did you get this?" Caitlin asked, slightly horrified and mildly confused.

"It was on the mat at home when I went downstairs. Don't know who left it, or why. It was just there. At first I thought it had gone to the wrong address, but the envelope had my name on it."

"And you don't recognise the handwriting?" Barry asked. Iris shook her head.

"No. As far as I know I've never seen it before."

"So why would someone leave you a note warning you that there was going to be a play for Hellen Finch soon?" Caitlin asked, handing the note back to Iris. Barry frowned slightly.

"Unless someone knew that you would tell me." He suggested. At that moment the door crashed open and the two friends turned to see who had made such a grand entrance.

"We found him!" Cisco said, rather excitedly, running into the room. Barry looked around at him, slightly confused.

"Found who?"

"Wind Lance! He and his friend are actually quite nearby." This was news to everyone. Why would they hide nearby? It made no sense, or very little sense. Barry stepped forward before dashing off to get changed into his Flash costume.

"Where?" He asked.

"Actually, it's Pierce Greene's old place."

"Barry, be – " Before Caitlin could finish her sentence, Barry had run off, "Careful. Why does he never listen?" She asked Cisco and Iris, who shrugged.

"He runs faster than he thinks."

* * *

With a few keystrokes Hellen pulled up the article on her mum's death on the screen of her laptop, Daniel sitting at her desk fiddling with a snow globe that usually sat on it. As she read the article her brows knitted together, confusion written on her face. After a moment she looked around at Daniel.

"Did you know that no one was found in the vehicle that crashed into the car that killed Mum and Korry?" She asked. Her friend looked around at her in surprise, almost dropping the snow globe.

"No. Did they ever find who did it?" Hellen shook her head after a little bit more reading.

"No. The car had been stolen not long before, so they couldn't find whoever crashed the car by tracing the number plate. Apparently they have an idea about who it might have been, but they could never prove it. There was no way for the police to connect the suspect to the crash."

"Do they give a name?" Now Daniel stood up and crossed over to Hellen, peering over her shoulder at the laptop. She shook her head.

"Not that I can see. But I have a feeling I know someone we could ask." She looked up at him, slight sadness in her eyes. For years she'd been told off for being so curious about her mum's death. But now she had to know. And there was one person who she thought she could ask. Surely her dad could she'd some light on this matter, even if he didn't want to. He used to say that she was too young to understand. But now she was older. Now was about the right time that James told her what had happened five years ago. Daniel watched his friend closely, seeming to read all her worries and doubts.

"You OK?" He asked.

"I don't know." He sat down beside her and gave her a quick hug.

"I'm here if you need me."

"That, I do know." She said, smiling slightly, returning the hug quickly before setting her laptop aside and standing up. It was time she and her dad had a heart to heart.

* * *

Michael Steele, otherwise known as the Boogey-Man (a name which he thought had a nice ring to it), sat doing a Montgomery Burns "excellent" with his hands, leaning back in his seat with his legs crossed. His partner in crimes was fidgeting nervously, worried about what was going to happen next.

"I still don't understand why we need to talk to her. We didn't get the power. Why is she still so important?" He asked.

"She has the power now. We can still convince her to join us. Having someone with her abilities would be most useful. Just because neither of us succeeded in getting the abilities, doesn't mean that we can't still have access to them."

"And if she doesn't agree to join us? After all, you did kill her mum and brother. The Finch girl has no reason to trust you, or me for that matter." Pierce grumbled. Michael shrugged.

"As you well know, I have no quarrels with killing people. I can't see a young woman, who's still technically a teenager, being all that hard to kill. If we can't use her powers, then neither can anyone else." He smiled and pushed himself out of the chair, heading over to the fridge nearby and pulling out a couple of beers, chucking one to Pierce, who caught it neatly and opened it. He shook his head.

"I still don't like it, Michael. There's been so much attention drawn to her as it is. Maybe we should lay off for a while?"

"No chance. She's just learning about her powers. We can't let her understanding of them go too far, or we'll lose the window of opportunity. Besides, the sooner we act, the sooner you can get revenge on her dad for what he did to your wife." At the mention of James Finch and Stacy Greene. Pierce pressed the bottle to his lips and drank deeply, seeming to empty half the bottle in one go. There was a reason he'd become a full time criminal. There was no way he could continue being a goody two shoes after how little help Finch had been. His wife had been alright, if she was still alive then maybe her bloody husband would've stepped in sooner to help Stacy. As it was, the girl had to try hard for a while to persuade her dad to help her. Hellen wasn't too bad. She was nice. Kind. Quiet, very quiet, didn't seem to like being around people much. But she was nice. Just didn't know how much potential she had. But Michael did. And pierce knew that Michael did. At times it seemed like Michael had always known, had planned for everything to happen exactly the way it was happening, seemed to know when and where it was all going to happen. Sometimes Pierce felt like the man had somehow set all this up, right from the moment he'd killed Mrs. Finch and the boy Finch. It was strange.

"There's nothing I'd like to see more than for that bloody Finch know all to be smashed to a pulp and then burned." Pierce spat, once more thinking about James Finch. Michael smiled. At times he felt like influencing his partner was way too simple. The organising of slowing James Finch's pans to help Stacy Greene had been simple. All it took was finding a way into his inner circle, and from there he could whisper dark secrets into the man's ear. Twist and shape his mind as Michael saw fit.

"It'll all work out in the end, my friend. Don't worry about it. Everything will go as planned. If she doesn't agree, then they'll all die. Simple." The way he said it, as though life meant nothing too him, it sent chills down Pierce's back, but he didn't seem to care anymore. He'd adjusted to his boss' peculiarities. To a certain extent anyway.

* * *

Snart looked around as the woman stepped out onto the roof, her hands in her pockets. She didn't look like she wanted to be there, but she knew she had to be. It worried him a little, that she seemed so calm, and at the same time he was more than a little surprised to see that she'd actually come. He dug his hands deeper into his pockets. It was surprisingly cold on the roof, not that he couldn't handle a little cold. The woman seemed to be wearing several layers, and despising the chilled wind that seemed to find its way to their very bones.

"Glad you could make it." Snart greeting, rather mockingly. The woman kept her face blank, nodding slightly.

"I suppose you'll want to skip all the pleasantries and get down to business, Mr. Snart?" She asked.

"That would be nice." He smiled, rather falsely, and she pulled out a pen drive from her pocket, holding it out to show him.

"It has all the information on it that you seek. It might take a little while for you to be able to open some of these files, but you will be able to open them all, eventually. Don't worry, you will get your answers. All in good time." Snart accepted the drive and looked at curiously, slightly displeased with the answer he was getting, but the woman wasn't done yet. The next thing she produced was an envelope, which she also held out to him, though she seemed a lot more reluctant about this than the pen drive. Before she nodded for him to take it, she paused, almost like she was trying to convince herself to change her mind. Or to not change her mind. It was hard to tell.

"That will tell you who I am. Something that I really shouldn't do. But you'll find out anyway, and I'd rather you found out before it's too late. It also explains to you why it's so important that you go and help Hellen Finch, and where she'll be. I'm asking you as a friend, Mr. Snart. Don't let her fall into the wrong hands. She needs guidance, and as much as I hate to admit it, only you can actually give her that guidance. And soon it'll be more important than ever." There was an edge of worry to her voice, an urgency that Snart couldn't explain. He frowned.

"What do you mean?" He asked. The woman took a deep breath before slowly letting it out.

"Hellen Finch has always had difficulty making friends. What do you think would happen if the last friend she had was lost to her?" She asked, earning a confused look, "I'm sorry, I've broken enough laws as it is. I can't tell you anymore. And I believe this is the end of our partnership, too. I might see you around, but the rest is up to you. I hope you make the right choice." The woman said before turning and walking away, Snart watching her go. Once she was gone, he opened the envelope, finding a couple of files inside it. He pulled them out, a slight frown on his face as he flicked through them. Michael Steele, Pierce Greene. There were parts of each file highlighted, probably parts that the woman had known were important for if Snart decided to help Hellen. Off to the side in each of the file were further notes, handwritten, obviously hurriedly. After a moment, Snart replaced the files, finding a photo. Old, tattered edges. He pulled it out, almost dropping it in his confusion. What he was seeing was impossible, wasn't it? He turned it over to look at the back. In blue ink was written the date the photo was taken, and who was involved. Snart looked back where the woman had vanished.

"Central City, the place where the impossible becomes possible." He muttered before heading down into the building, replacing the photo in the file, thinking it best that Rory not see it. There were some things that he wouldn't be able to understand that easily, things that he wouldn't react to very well, and the photo was one of those things. As soon as he got the chance, Snart would check out the pen drive. Until then, he had a job to do.

"Mick!" He yelled, "We're going out."

* * *

Barry came to a halt at Pierce Greene's last known residence, looking up at the rather surprisingly large house. It would have been a beautiful house, once upon a time, but old age and neglect left it lying in near ruins. In many ways it was sad to see the house looking so crumbling and destroyed.

"I'm here, Cisco. It doesn't look like anyone has been here for a while." He said, heading inside the building.

"There's a reason for that, Flash." Came a voice from behind him. Barry turned to see who'd addressed him, not very surprised to see the Boogey-Man there, oozing out from under a door. As Michael Steele solidified, he smiled, holding his arms outstretched before him.

"Isn't this a momentous day?" He asked, earning a funny look from Barry.

"The only way I can see this being momentous is by me putting you behind bars." He challenged, getting ready for a fight. He was slightly surprised when Boogey-Man laughed, relaxing for against the wall.

"Oh, my dear Flash, I believe you're in need of an eye check up. Either that or you aren't here for the reason I thought you would be."

"Oh yeah? What reason would that be?"

"The girl. Hellen Finch. We all know of her importance, don't we?" Now Barry frowned. He'd started to reach the conclusion that the Finch Labs case and Hellen Finch were completely unrelated. Now it was starting to look like that was far less than true. Michael watched the Flash closely, smiling in sympathy.

"Yes, it took me a while to realise, too. Better part of four years, in fact. Then I figured that if I changed history, then my family would still be alive. She'd never have killed them. So I had to plan. And I came back here. Put everything in place for her. I had to turn her into Hell Fire, just so I could stop her. The crystal, the fire, her mum and pesky younger brother, it all had to be perfect. All so that she would emerge. All so that I could influence her future, so I could save my own. She's more important than either of us, Flash. So much depends on her." Barry had heard stuff like this before, and he didn't like how familiar it was. Creating your own enemy... sounded just like Eobard Thawne. Influencing them, teaching them, nurturing them. All the rage that Barry felt for the man who he'd thought was a friend came rising to the surface.

 _"Barry, he's trying to lure you in."_ Cisco said, trying to get his friends attention again. But it didn't work. Not much would be able to work. Not with Barry so angry. And there was only one person who would be able to calm him down, his friends all knew it. Michael smiled.

"The sooner you accept that you're not going to win this, the better." He said. Then Barry lost it. He ran at Michael and tried to hit him, but the Boogey-Man just melted into the goo, sliding away under Barry's feet. He was playing, trying to anger Barry, and the angrier Barry got, the better. It would ensure that he was kept away from the main plan, it'd ensure that he ended up being trapped. It was all just a matter of time.

* * *

It took all Hellen got to not change into Hell Fire. She glared down at her dad, who was sitting on the couch, wanting to hit something. Daniel stood behind her, talking to her and trying to calm her down. But considering she could hardly hear him, it wasn't doing much good.

"You've known for all these years who crashed into the car, and you didn't once think to tell me? I could have died in the accident, and Mum and Korry _did_ die. You never thought to tell me that it wasn't an accident that killed them? Never thought to tell me that someone did it on purpose?" James sighed, rubbing a hand down his face, then went off to the liquor cabinet to pour himself some whiskey. Hellen stepped forward and blocked his path. She stared him down until he returned to his spot on the couch.

"I thought it was better you didn't know. They never caught who did it, couldn't connect him to the case. They couldn't even find motive." James explained.

"You still could have told me! Five years, Dad! How many chances would you have had in five years?"

"I didn't want to put you in danger." Hellen scoffed and prepared to make some snide reply, but Daniel walked over to her, stepping between her and her dad. He looked down at her and took her by the shoulders, making her look up at him, away from her dad. She wasn't impressed.

"Calm down, Hell. No, he shouldn't have kept it from you for so long. But you know now. Isn't that what really matters?" He asked. For a moment neither of them said or did anything, then Hellen pulled away from him and stepped around to look at her dad.

"Who did they suspect?" She asked. James watched her cautiously.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea." He replied, rather hesitantly.

"I'm not going to ask again, Dad." Hellen scowled. James sighed.

"Michael Steele." Hellen turned and walked out of the house, Daniel hurrying after her. She wasn't in the right head space, and she was probably going to get herself killed at this rate. That wasn't something that Daniel or James wanted, but James stayed where he was. He figured he'd done enough damage already. After walking for a while, Daniel managed to get in front of Hellen and stop her.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Going to pay Michael Steele a visit."

"How? You don't even know where he lives! He might not even still be alive."

"I'm going to pay that son of a bitch a visit, I can't explain it. But I know where I'm going. And he's not dead." Hellen said, rather too confidently, before she stepped around Daniel and kept walking. He sighed and resumed following her, not even sure if he recognised her in the state she was currently in. It was like something had taken charge of her body and was controlling it. Hellen wasn't like this. The Hellen she knew wouldn't be going on a murderous rampage. She'd be finding another way to deal with what was happening. There was only one thing that he could think of that could be causing something like this. Hell Fire. Could it be possible that her meta ability had also given her a duel personality? Anything was possible, now that the world made no sense.


	15. Chapter 15

The thieves snuck into the building, aiming to not be seen. In the files it had said that it was important no one knew they were there until it was the right time. How they'd know it was the right time, Snart had no clue. But it seemed like the woman could be trusted. Of course, Rory was confused about this change in his partner. Snart had never trusted the woman, and in just a few minutes, all that had changed. He blamed her, thought that she'd managed to somehow get into his head. Which, in some ways, he was right about. But she didn't do exactly what Rory thought she had.

"I still don't get what so important about the girl." Rory growled.

"She's a meta. She's smart." Even Rory could tell that Snart was leaving something out. But he didn't think that it was a good idea to push to get an answer. There was something strange going on, something about the girl. He stopped and looked through a hole in the wall, frowning. He etched out and tapped Snart on the shoulder, pointing through the hole. Snart frowned and stepped forward, looking through the hole and scowling. There was a battle going on between the Flash and some other meta, a guy who was frequently changing into goo. It was obvious that the Flash was losing. The two watched as the goo guy reached out and wrapped his still-goo arm around the neck of the superhero, lifting him off the ground and flinging him against the wall. Snart adjusted his cold gun and looked like he was preparing to fire, but Rory stopped him, shaking his head. Slowly Snart lowered his gun again. Rory was right. Now wasn't the moment to get involved. Hellen hadn't even shown up yet, and it was best they didn't get found out until she had. They shared a look and then kept going. Snart knew all this had happened before. Well, for some people at least. Things would happen as they were meant to. Chances were that Barry would be fine. Was it that big of a loss if he wasn't? So they kept going, knowing that they were on the clock.

* * *

Hellen looked around the building, admiring the craftsmanship. Some of these things were really beautiful, but she wasn't actually there to admire the wood work. She was there to kick Michael Steele's butt. Daniel entered soon after her and looked around, just as she had, then rushed after her, grabbing her by the arm.

"This is a bad idea." He hissed.

"I don't care. You don't have to be here, in fact, you shouldn't be here. I can't say what will happen when I find Steele." She hissed backed, her face serious.

"I think that's why I do need to be here."

"Your choice. Just don't fall behind." Hellen snapped as she started making her way up the stairs to the second floor, then marched down the hall to her left. Daniel chased after her, wondering how she knew where she was going. Something was seriously wrong with her, she needed help. Not like she'd agree with it though. Right now wasn't the right time to tell her that. Who knew what she would do to him if he did. Just then the wind picked up. Hellen looked around at Daniel and frowned.

"You didn't leave the door open, did you?" She asked.

"Even if I did, the winds coming from the wrong direction." He replied, sharing a look with her. Hellen looked back in front of her, scowling.

"Wind Lance." She whispered, feeling her blood heat up and rush around her body, then felt the pain of her scales piercing her skin, her bones changing shape, the wings bursting from her back. She whirled around and looked at Daniel as he placed his hand on her shoulder and shook his head.

"Don't do it, Hellen."

"You saw what this guy did to Finch Labs. He'll deserve what he gets."

"Whatever he's done, that doesn't mean that he's a bad guy."

"Open your eyes, Daniel! This city just isn't the same anymore. It is dangerous. And he is a bad guy." Hellen spat, but she almost sounded sad when she finished. Daniel didn't miss this, but didn't argue anymore. They had company.

"Hellen, nice to see you again." Wind Lance smiled, his eyes pinned on Hellen.

"Wish I could say the same."

"Oh, but you can."

"Yeah, but that'd be lying." She shrugged, flames starting to lick around her fist, Daniel watching them closely, slightly taken aback. Next thing she did was throw the fire at Wind Lance, but he summoned up a bigger wind and the flames extinguished before they hit him. He smirked.

"You'll need to do better than that."

"I'm just getting warmed up." She unfurled her wings and launched herself at her foe, grabbing him and lifting him off his feet before throwing him against the wall. He struggled to get his feet back under him, but managed quite quickly, his eyes flicking to Daniel, who he was now standing quite close to.

"Thanks, Hellen. You really helped me out." He grinned, grabbing Daniel by the arm and summoning up a whirlwind and seeming to vanish. Hellen did her best to chase after them, but Wind Lance wasn't stupid and summoned up a wind strong enough to throw her back the more she tried to get forward. When it had died down, there was no sign of Daniel or Wind Lance. Hellen morphed back into human form, worry in her eyes before she continued on her way, now searching for her friend as well as Michael Steele. This wasn't going the way she had planned.

* * *

"You got the girl?" Michael asked as his partner entered the room. Pierce shook his head.

"She changed, her powers have grown. She can control them better. Got her friend instead." He said, throwing a young man to the ground. Michael smirked. Sure, this boy wasn't what he'd wanted, but it would give better leverage than just the Flash, who was collapsed in a heap on the ground, tied down with Michael's goo. He didn't look too happy, and when he saw Hellen's friend he started struggling even harder to get up.

"You tried that before, Flash. It won't work," Michael said, sounding almost bored before he turned back to Pierce, "How far away is she?"

"She shouldn't be too long. She only has one way to get here from where she was, I made sure of that."

"Remember, she can burn things to a crisp. She might find ways through even what you have blocked."

"Doubt that's much of a danger. She's too worried about her boyfriend here." To emphasize his words, he kicked the boy in the gut, making him curl up in pain. Obviously this kid wasn't very good when it came to pain. Pierce pulled a face, disgusted with how pathetic the boy was being. It'd be so much more fun if he was a tough kid, rather than a weakling. But this wasn't about fun. It was about Hellen. Her choice could either save this kid and the Flash, or kill the both of them. And herself. The sound of something falling over rang out and Michael and Pierce looked around, frowning. Slowly and cautiously, Hellen Finch stepped into the room. Michael smirked, leaning casually against the wall.

"Hellen! So glad you could join us." He greeted. The girl didn't say anything, just stopped where she was and looked down at Daniel, then at the Flash.

"Let them go." She said, but there was a slight shake in her voice.

"Well, that's up to you. I'll let them go... either in a body bag, or on their own two feet. The choice is yours," Michael offered, stepping forwards and stopping mere centimetres from Hellen, "Join us and save your friend and Central City's own Flash, or don't join us... and you'll all die." He hissed. Hellen screwed up her face.

"Brush your teeth and I'll think about it." She snapped. The Boogey-Man stepped back, laughing, then wrenched Daniel off the floor, holding him up by his hair, holding a gun to his head.

"I'm not a patient man, Hellen. Make your choice, and soon, or you're going to watch your friend die first." Fear was clear as day in the girl's eyes and she looked at her friend. He shook his head.

"Don't do it. Whatever happens, Hellen, don't do it." He said.

"You're an idiot, Daniel. Did you know that?" She asked, not waiting for a reply, "So if I join you, you'll release the Flash and Daniel?"

"Cross my heart."

"If I were you, I wouldn't believe him. He's a conman." Someone else said, stepping into the room. Hellen looked around, then frowned.

"Snart?"

"Either that or I'm a very good impersonator." Was the snide reply.

"What are you doing here?"

"Helping you out." Rory growled as he came onto the scene. Hellen scowled.

"I don't need your help."

"That's not what we were told." By now Michael was scowling, pressing the gun harder against Daniel's head, watching the newcomers closely.

"I hate to break up this reunion, but Hellen here has a choice to make." He spat. Snart raised his cold gun, aiming at the Boogey-Man, but Hellen reached out and placed her hand on it to stop him.

"You'll get Daniel." She said, her eyes starting to change. When she looked back at Michael Steele, she'd completely changed into Hell Fire, complete with the flames finding their way up her arms. From his position on the ground, the Flash looked quite shocked, trying hard to get out of his bindings again. Hellen didn't take her eyes off Michael, knowing why he wanted her.

"You have another choice, Hellen." Snart said from behind her, surprisingly gently. She looked around at him again, slightly surprised. After a moment she shook her head.

"No, I really don't."

"We can help you. I can't tell you how I know this, but we can."

"Sure, you can help me. But can you help them?" She asked, pointing from Daniel to the Flash, "It's not for me that I'm doing this. If I had a choice I wouldn't."

"You do have a choice," Another voice said, and Hellen once again turned around, "You always have a choice." It took Hellen a moment to realise that no one was moving, everything was frozen. She looked around, slightly afraid of what was happening.

"How are you doing this?" She asked, her eyes falling on a figure that was standing half in the shade. Slowly the strange woman stepped out, shrugging slightly carelessly.

"I'm influencing time in this room, and it's pretty tiring. We don't have long, Hellen."

"That would explain how you were able to survive the crash. You stopped time just long enough so that you could get out... but why didn't you save Korry?"

"I understand why you think I'm your mum, but I'm not her. It's a lot more complicated than that. Someday you'll understand. For now, you have to make a choice. And I can promise you, Snart and Rory can help. They're good people."

"They're criminals."

"I think you'll find that people can be criminals and yet still be good people."

"I think I'd rather not find that out."

"If you join Michael Steele, then he'll still kill everyone in here. He will kill Daniel, he will kill the Flash, he will kill Snart and Rory, and time will change. You will feel the most excruciating pain you have ever felt, and it will not go away. Everything that is different to how it should have been will hurt you more and more." The woman said, rather earnestly. Hellen frowned.

"How do you know all this? How can I trust you?"

"You may as well be asking how can you trust yourself." That made Hellen freeze for a second.

"You're..."

"Yes."

"Shit," Hellen muttered, running her hand down her face, then looking around at everyone, time frozen in place, "What should I do?" She asked.

"Go with Rory and Snart. They can help you." The woman's face screwed up with pain and she fell backwards a step. Hellen rushed forwards, but she held up her hand to stop her. The woman looked up and her eyes locked with Hellen's.

"I have to go. Time is starting to slip, they can never know I was here." She looked at Hellen imploringly and after a moment she nodded, not saying anything. And then the woman was gone, and Hellen was left to watch as time resumed. Michael smirked, thinking that he had won. Hellen had said she didn't have a choice. The smirk slowly disappeared as Hellen started to smile slowly, the flames around her closed fists growing higher and starting to turn blue at the base.

"Sorry, Boogey-Man. I ain't buying what you're selling." She said before sending a stream of flame towards the Flash, burning the goo around him, making Michael withdraw, screaming in pain. The Flash stood up and sped in, punching him, sending him flying backwards. While this was happening, Wind Lance started summoning wind around him and Snart shoot him with the cold gun, freezing him to the spot. Hellen looked at Rory.

"Feeling free to burn the place whenever you feel like it." She said, a grin spreading on Rory face. The Flash looked at Hellen, shaking his head.

"You've turned down one criminal. You have a gift. You could help people." He said.

"I'm not a superhero. You know that I'm socially awkward. Being in the spotlight isn't my thing." She replied, not taking her eyes off him. If she had, maybe she would have spotted Michael Steele pointing his gun at Daniel, who was standing perfectly still, glued to the spot with the shock of what had just happened. The sound of a gun shot echoed in the house and Hellen's head snapped around, looking to see what had just happened. She watched as Daniel fell to the ground, blood seeping out onto his top. For a moment she didn't do anything, just watched him. Then her shock was replaced by furious despair, and she couldn't stop herself. The flames vanished from around her hands and she marched forwards, hauling Boogey-Man to his feet, slamming him against the wall. Snart and Rory just watched, not wanting to intervene, thinking that the guy would get what he deserved. The Flash, however, stepped up.

"Hellen, you don't want to do this. If you kill him, there is no coming back."

"Hell Fire. Not Hellen. And I don't care if there's no coming back. This bastard killed my mum, killed my brother, and just shot my friend."

"And he'll go to prison for the rest of his life because of it."

"He doesn't deserve to go to prison. It's too good for him." A small smile spread on Michael's face and he leaned forward, his face getting closer to Hellen's.

"Do it," He whispered, "Kill me." Hellen smirked.

"Your wish is my command." She whispered back, taking a step backwards. The Flash relaxed slightly, not having heard what she'd just said. Then Hellen swiped out, catching the Boogey-Man in the throat with her claws, leaving three long, deep marks in his neck.

"No!" The Flash cried out as she stepped back, ice in her eyes. He looked at Hellen in dismay, but she ignored him, her meta-form fading away as she knelt down next to Daniel, checking for a pulse.

"You killed him."

"He tried to kill Daniel. Phone an ambulance," Hellen looked up, the Flash now noticing the blood that was spattered up her arms and on her face, "He's still breathing and he's still got a pulse. Get an ambulance here, now." She said.

"Cisco?" The Flash said, pressing his ear piece. No one else heard the reply, but judging by how nothing else was said, an ambulance was now on its was. Or had already been.

"You need to get out of here." He said, looking at Hellen.

"I can't leave Daniel. Not like this."

"You're at a crime scene with blood all over you. They'll be able to put two and two together. You need to go."

"He's right." Snart said, making Hellen look around at him. After a moment she stood up, heading over to stand with him and Rory.

"Were you serious when you said you could help me?" She asked. Snart nodded and Hellen looked back at the Flash, then down at Daniel. It was obvious she was thinking about it. Then she nodded, looking back at Snart and Rory.

"OK."

"Hellen – "

"You were right, Flash. There is no coming back from what I just did. But I know you," She looked back at him as they started heading out the door, "You aren't about to tell anyone, otherwise you wouldn't tell me to get out of here. You think there's still hope for me," She shrugged, "I guess we're going to have to wait and see."

"I'll see you round, Hellen Finch." The Flash said, and Hellen nodded, then left the room. The Flash knelt down next to Daniel and pressed his hands against the wound, trying to stop the bleeding.

"Hang on, Daniel. Hang on." He said, the sound of sirens growing nearer.


	16. Chapter 16

A couple of weeks passed and Daniel remained unconscious in the hospital, stuck on life support. Despite how much Hellen hated the place, she still visited him every day. After all, he was her friend. One of the few she had. In all honesty she was just thankful he hadn't died at the scene. She sat beside her friend's bed, listening to the rhythmic beeping of the machine next to her, resting her head on her left hand, her right hand resting on the other arm of the chair.

"How's he doing?" Someone asked, making Hellen look around. She shrugged.

"Not worse, but not a lot better, either. They're thinking of talking to his parents about taking him off life support and just seeing what happens."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm used to this stuff. Been in this position before with Korry. But you already knew that, didn't you Barry?" Barry entered the room properly and took the seat next to Hellen, not looking at her. It seemed like he wanted to say something, but he didn't think he could. Hellen snorted as she looked back at Daniel.

"You want to talk to me about Hell Fire, don't you Flash?" She asked, rather quietly. Barry looked at her in surprise. She shook her head, running a hand through her loose hair as she thought. She didn't want to let anyone else know who Barry was. If she did that, there was no stopping him from telling everyone who she was.

"How long have you known?" He asked eventually.

"Since he phoned you to tell you I was missing. Suspected for a lot longer though," She looked over at him, "I won't tell anyone about you. So long as you don't tell anyone about me."

"Hellen – "

"Do we have a deal?" Barry sighed.

"Yes."

"Good."

"You can come back from this. He killed your mum and your brother. That doesn't mean that you have to become..."

"A criminal? Barry, make up your mind. You said there was no coming back from what I did. Trust me. You were right, but I don't regret my actions. I know you want me to use my abilities for good, but I'm not cut out for that. Steele made me into whatever I am now. He was the one who opened everything up to force me into this. Maybe someday I'll help you, who knows? The future is... full of surprises." Hellen sighed, looking back at Daniel. After a moment Barry stood up and left the room, stopping in the doorway and looking back at Hellen.

"See you round, Hell Fire."

"Not if I see you first." She heard Barry's quiet footsteps as he walked away and sighed. They might have been able to be pretty good friends if things hadn't gone the way they had. Something caught her eye and she looked at Daniel closer, frowning ever so slightly. The frown dissolved and a grin took its place as her friend groaned slightly and pulled a face when he opened his eyes, surprised by the light that seemed to bombard him. Once he'd recovered from the shock he opened his eyes, looking around and seeing Hellen. He smiled.

"Hey." Hellen covered her mouth with one hand, laughing with relief, then she reached out and took his hand in her own, rubbing it with her thumb.

"Hey." She whispered, her voice breaking ever so slightly.

"What's up with you?" Daniel asked, completely confused.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing, just happy."

"You don't look happy." Hellen leaned forward and pondered how to best explain what was going on before starting to wonder how much he remembered of what happened. She took a deep breath and slowly released it.

"You've been unconscious for a while." She explained.

"How long?" Daniel asked after a moment.

"Couple of weeks. You were starting to scare us."

"You mean things still scare you, even if you kill someone?" This time it was Hellen's turn to freeze. Daniel slowly withdrew his hand and Hellen leaned back in her chair slightly. She swallowed.

"You..."

"Yeah, I know. And I don't see how you could have done something like that and yet still be allowed to walk free."

"The cops don't know."

"They should."

"Daniel!"

"No, Hellen. I don't want any excuses," Daniel looked away from her, "You should go." For a moment Hellen stayed where she was sitting, then she stood up abruptly and just left the room. She knew when she wasn't wanted, or needed. She placed her hand on the door frame and looked around at Daniel.

"I don't regret anything, he deserved it. You mightn't agree with me, but I don't care, and I mightn't be your friend anymore... but no matter what, if you need anything, and I mean anything, you know where I am." Then she left. Daniel didn't even look at her, just stared determinedly at the wall.

* * *

Snart looked around as Hellen slipped into the room, not looking very happy at all. He turned off the computer and stood up, heading over to where she stood fiddling with the spare parts for the guns. She hardly acknowledged him, just chucked the part she'd picked up back onto the table before inspecting another piece, then looking at the cold gun and pointing at it.

"Some of the wires are gonna break soon." She muttered. Snart thought for a moment then picked up the gun and fired it at the ground nearby.

"Still works fine." He replied.

"I said soon, not the next time you used it." Hellen snorted, then flopped down in a nearby chair, summoning little droplets of flame to her fingers and making them move, some of them floating out in front of her before exploding in miniature fireworks.

"How's your friend?"

"Daniel? Better than he was. He's awake, for one thing. Hates me, though," She looked around at Snart, "He knows I killed Steele." She explained. Snart placed the cold gun back down on the table and moved to a seat opposite Hellen.

"Regretting it?" He asked.

"Not a bit. And that's almost worse, because it means that I know he has every reason to hate and fear me. He's one of..." She quickly did a head count on her fingers, "At least five, who know I'm Hell Fire. No clue who else darling Flash will have told about me. It's doubtful he won't have told his team."

"He'll have told them." Snart confirmed.

"So what the heck am I supposed to do now? I mean... my best friends hates me, the Flash probably isn't afraid to try to stop me, he certainly wants to help me, which I know he can't... at least not yet. So... what do I do?" She shrugged, clenching her hand into a fist and extinguishing the flame on her finger tips.

"Train. You have all this power, but you don't know a thing about how to control it or what out line of work involves. If you're really up for it."

"Not like I have anything else to do with my time. How am I supposed to train when none of us know much about my abilities? I'm the only meta out of us three."

"You be surprised how much Mick knows about fire."

"Would I? The pyromaniac..."

"I heard my name." Mick growled as he walked into the room. Hellen smirked slightly.

"Just saying how fabulously grumpy you are today." She said and Snart looked over to see how Mick would react. The other man just shrugged and carried on with what he was doing, whatever that was. For some reason the guy had a soft spot for Hellen, probably because she could summon fire out of nothing. There were bound to be limits though. Snart reached into his pocket and pulled out the pen drive the strange woman had given him and turned it over in his hand. Hellen frowned when she saw it.

"Where's you get that?" She asked. Snart looked at her.

"Friend gave it to me." He said.

"You mean the strange woman." He nodded. Hellen smiled slightly.

"What's on it?"

"Maybe something that can help with your training."

"You saying she might still be looking out for me?"

"Considering how insistent she was that we get you before anyone else did, chances are she's gonna be looking out for you for a while."

"Ah, yes. My guardian angel," Hellen laughed slightly, rubbing her arms, which were, for once, uncovered, "So when do we start?"

* * *

The woman stood looking up at the star filled sky somewhere far away from the city where the light didn't reach. Soon a door would open. She could feel it. As soon as it did, she'd be gone. A smile slipped onto her face when it did open, showing the interior of a ship, one that she knew quite well. Without looking back she stepped through, looking over at her captain, standing in his office with his back to her.

"Honey, I'm home." She joked, making him turn around. He smiled and headed over to her, clapping her on the shoulder.

"You took your time."

"Yeah, well, didn't realise that it's take this long for a door to open again. Nice to be back though."

"Everything went to plan?"

"Eh... not quite everything. Nothing went drastically wrong, though. Must say, it was interesting talking to myself... and watching myself kill Steele. Didn't realise I was quite that blood thirty back then. Please, tell me that I'm not still like that."

"You're not still like that." Her boss said, turning back to his office. The woman smiled.

"Thank you, Rip. Means so much to me. Where are the others?"

"Off doing their own thing for a while. Go get settled in again," Rip ordered, then turned back around as the woman started to head off to her quarters, "Oh, and Hellen?" The woman stopped and looked back at him, "Welcome home."

* * *

 **Hey, so sorry I was a bit slack and only just got around to finishing this chapter, which also finishes this story! Hope you enjoyed, and I will hopefully get around to writing a sequel at some point. Got a few ideas for one, it's simply getting around to it, but currently I am being swarmed with internals and mock exams are coming up soon, the actual exams not long after that, but I will try to find time to write a sequel for you. Thanks for reading! :D**


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